


He Who Shall Remain Dead

by DeviWan



Category: Naruto
Genre: Clones, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Pretty zombie Itachi!!, Reanimation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 06:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeviWan/pseuds/DeviWan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto made a clone. He left that clone with Itachi. The clone and Itachi lived together under the same roof. Itachi had issues (being brought back from the dead would do that to you) and the clone took care of him. It's been nearly two years. </p><p>The world wasn't going to wait for them forever, so now it's time. </p><p>Naruto dismissed the clone. Poof!</p><p>Problem number three: Naruto was almost certainly sure that his clone had been in love with Itachi. Now, in the blink of an eye, he'd lived two years with Itachi.</p><p>Naruto/Itachi slash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

_The war is over._

_The war is over and Konoha stands. It is hard to believe that a war of all nations scale had ever occurred, and this is understandable. The war didn't last very long; not very many people are expected to know it in detail. This is the case among the citizens and children, who were kept carefully away from the battles. Still, words reached them from beyond the front-line and a name was whispered with fear and admiration, disbelief and hatred, respect._

_Til this day it's in the mind of every child and adolescence that Uzumaki Naruto is the hero, that he played an important role in the war, and that without him the war could possibly still rage on and Konoha might no longer be. He is the topic much discussed among children; who speak of him with stars in their eyes and hope blooming in their chest. It is not uncommon to hear 'I wanna be like Naruto!' wherever one may turn. The older generations no longer spend precious time trying to change the minds of the younger generation about Uzumaki. How can they when they themselves cannot even glance at the blond jinchuuriki without remembering whispering harsh words and delivering hateful glares? Uzumaki saved the village, countless times, and this is a fact that cannot be denied. Too many witnesses who fought alongside him in the war._

_Uzumaki is a hero, admired and wanted. He is the man who grew up absorbing all the hatred the villagers directed at him, and using it to better himself. He is a hero. He is also a jinchuuriki and the older generation cannot find it in themselves to fully accept him. He would never be just a man to them. He was never even just a boy to begin with. He was always one thing and something else. Once upon a time he was the demon child with mischief in his eyes, and then he was the demon vessel with the Uchiha friend, later the guy with questionable power. He is never… just; just a boy, just a man… just human._

_He is, however, a good person. Now he is a good person with the Sage mode, he is the good person with power. He can protect the village, actually he can protect many villages, and he is kind. It's for this simple fact that the older generation can bother to try and change what was in their heart just a little bit. It wasn't easy, and it certainly took its time, but opinions did change. Many more smiles are directed at Uzumaki when he passes them on the streets. Many more kind words can be exchanged. The villagers work hard to show the blond hero that they've accepted him, and that they will support him in everything he does. They want to show him that they're sorry, that being a jinchuuriki is no longer a curse to them._

_If only Uzumaki cared enough for that._

_What most people don't know –and they won't bother to find out- is that he really isn't a jinchuuriki anymore. He isn't the unwilling host to an unwilling prisoner. He does have red chakra in him, but that chakra is his. It is his to wield and control and use; his. He does have another conscience in there with him –one that is irritating and lazy and full of pride- but that conscience isn't an inmate. Uzumaki comes very close to calling this other entity a friend –does so behind his back with snickers of 'best friend for life,' and 'soul-brother.' He isn't a jinchuuriki, and he doesn't care about what the villagers think of the trust that his father had had in him to do this to him. He isn't a jinchuuriki because the seal on his stomach isn't a locked door. It's just a door. He and his close friend –the one with the tall silver hair- have modified it so that it provides the demon with room in Uzumaki's head. It is a door that opens both ways and it acts as a divider. He and the demon are roommates._

_See? He's not a jinchuuriki anymore. With all the red chakra swimming in his system, it would be more suitable to call him a demi-demon. The demon is just another conscience in his head. And if this still makes him a jinchuuriki, then it shouldn't anymore, because Uzumaki has a plan for this other conscience. He has a plan; a plan to save a life._

X

It seemed ironic that the one who changed the least had to adjust the most to changes. Naruto wasn't complaining, he was just acknowledging the irony of it. Really, no complaints whatsoever. There was nothing to complain about anyway; these changes had been good ones. He didn't receive glares anymore when he waked out to get ramen. People waved at him and smiled and said hello –and it wasn't fair because he was just one man; he couldn't possibly wave and say hello back to everyone who did. Many times he thought about making clones walk with him so that they could help him to say hellos, but it just wouldn't be the same. He had a feeling that people only wanted hellos from him, not his clones. These things took getting used to. Still, every now and then it wold surprise him when a stranger said hello, because he had a distant memory of that person cursing at him when he was just a mere boy. These times always stung, and he would bitterly wave back and plaster on a cheerful smile. For them. Everything he did was for them.

On his way to his meeting spot with Sakura he passed a group of young teens. They were of the age he had been when everything in his life was thrown about; twelve, thirteen.

"Good morning, Hokage-kun!" One of the girls cheered, before giggling and turning back to her friends, who stared at him with wide eyes.

Naruto laughed softly and waved at them. When the staring continued he scratched at the back of his head, clueless. It didn't matter that he was now a young man of nineteen. Kids who thought he was a hero always made him clueless. He just didn't know how to proceed. What did they expect him to do? Tricks? Ninjutsu?

"Uzumaki Naruto, brought down to a bumbling mess by his fans. How amusing." He turned to his long-time friend with a cheeky grin. Sakura raised one amused eyebrow at him. "Well? Aren't you going to deny that? You're not Hokage yet, you know."

Naruto huffed. "It's only a matter of time now." And he didn't mind. That the kids would call him their Hokage-kun meant that they had faith in him.

His long-time friend hummed amusedly to herself, and then turned in the direction of the ramen stand. "So? Aren't you going to treat me to ramen?" And when Naruto opened his mouth to voice something witty, she quickly added, "In a none-dating way, you idiot."

It was something familiar, this light banter of theirs. Naruto had no delusion. He was never going to be romantic with his pink headed friend in any way. They've gone on one date and it ended with him receiving one light kiss on the cheek. It was as platonic as anything could get and Naruto felt so awkward afterwards because him and Sakura? Yeah, they're never going to be more than siblings in every way but blood. And it was all good too, because lately Sakura's been showing an unusual amount of interest in Rock Lee. She was giggling at times when she used to chuckle nervously, and blushing when she used to clench her fists and grit her teeth. Rock Lee was flirting in his gentlemanly way –polite and straight to the point- and Sakura was responding at a level that almost made Naruto sick to the stomach. His two friends were so sickeningly sweet… and they weren't even officially dating yet.

The smell of ramen hit them before the stand was actually in sight, and by the time they rounded the corner and could actually see the stand, Naruto was flooded with years and years of memories both good and heart-breaking. It happened every time, this smell of his life.

When they'd seated themselves and ordered, Sakura said, "What are you going to do for three days? Tell me you won't train til you pass out. I don't want to see you anywhere near the hospital, Naruto."

"Umm, actually I was thinking of spending some time in Old Lady Tsunade's library. She's got really cool stuff in there." It should unnerve him that he could now lie so easily to Sakura. Once upon a time he used to just blurt out the truth to her, whether she asked him to or not. Now his heart barely changed pace, but then again, the consequences of the truth were too much for him to even think about.

"Her library?" Sakura gasped, for once not punching him in the head for the disrespecting name he had for their Hokage. "Her private one?"

"Ah… I don't know. It's the one with a lot of books in it." He gave her a mocking grin.

"Naruto!"

The blonde threw back his head and laughed. "Relax, Sakura-chan. Why are you getting so riled up? It's just like any other library, but smaller… and dustier. And it has things living in there that I can't name."

Sakura gaped at him, then slammed her fist down on the counter –luckily without investing any chakra- and turned in her seat towards him. "If it's her private library, Naruto, then it's not just her library. It's the private library of all past Hokage's. Once upon a time that was your father's library! Forget about the dust, tell me what's in there!"

It was uncomfortably silent after she finished her passionate –and boy didn't that remind him of Rock Lee- rant. The other customers stared at them, no doubt a little more than interested. No one could blame them. Naruto and his friends have been known to provide excellent entertainment to anyone lucky enough to be nearby. Naruto, though finding much amusement in his friend's excitement, was more worried about her second last comment. That he was Namikaze Minato's only son was still a secret; one he didn't intend to reveal anytime soon. He looked carefully at the other waiting customers, and upon noticing the lack of shock or surprise, relaxed. Still, it had been an unnecessary risk, and he felt a slight irritation towards Sakura. Of course he knew she wouldn't reveal his secret on purpose, but she was unruly –ironic as that may sound- with her outbursts; almost just as unruly as he was.

"Sakura," he said with a tight smile.

She looked at him, confused for a moment, and then shrunk back in her seat with her fiery curiosity forgotten. Sakura opened her mouth, an apology on the tip of her tongue, but then remained silent because it was blaringly obvious that they still had an audience. Instead she smiled gently and touched his much larger hand, squeezed it and went on talking about something else, something less interesting but much safer. And just like that he forgave her, because he loved her and he knew she didn't mean any harm.

"What are you doing after lunch?" He asked her.

"I'm going back to the hospital," she said with a pout. "We have a twelve-member team coming back in. They've been on an extended mission or something, and we have to thoroughly examine them, make sure they didn't bring any diseases back with them."

"That's ridiculous," Naruto said. "No team ever comes back right on schedule. We never come back on schedule."

"That's true, but I still have to be there. Ino is part of the team meeting them at the gate. They have to walk from the gate to the hospital in a bubble or something like that, so they don't spread anything if they have it. Sometimes I think my job is mocking me."

Naruto smiled. It was probably wrong that he found comfort in Sakura's complaints. Sakura was one of the many aspects that made home. Her complaints, her floral scent, her intelligent eyes and iron fist. There were so many other aspects that completed his home, and he would be the happiest man alive if he could just reveal to her all his secrets; especially the secret he kept hidden in a forest colony far away from Konoha.

"Here you go, Naruto," said Teuchi, putting both their ramen bowls down and offering them his usual squint-eyed smile. Another aspect of home. "So, what have you two been up to lately? Anything worth mentioning?"

And Naruto wondered how it would sound if he said 'Well you know how I haven't been here as often as before? That's because I've been sneaking off to meet an ex-criminal who's slowly losing his mind because, yeah, he's supposed to be dead right now. By the way, I'm going there right after I finish eating.' It probably wouldn't sound too good, not with Sakura sitting right next to him and at least two other shinobi within hearing range. Instead he said, "I fell out of bed this morning and I'm pretty sure I broke my wrist, but it healed before I woke up properly."

Teuchi threw his head back and laughed a laugh that bubbled from deep within his stomach. Automatically Naruto smiled, because he could never resist Teuchi's laughs. It made everything in the world bright for that one moment. "Ah, boy, I hardly think anything can break you. You've grown so large… well; all that ramen had to go somewhere. I think you might even be bigger than all your friends!"

"Teuchi," Sakura warned kindly, because if there's one thing she couldn't stand, it was Naruto getting started on how he'd grown so much in the last few years, about how he was way taller than Sakura now. And the thing was, she was pretty sure he was still growing.

Naruto laughed around his chopsticks, swallowed and said, "You're just mad 'cause you practically have to jump to hit me!"

Teuchi laughed again, and behind his laughter the sound of Ayame's laughter rang. It was almost overwhelming, this good feeling, and Naruto almost didn't want to ever leave the ramen stand. He could just sit here all day, eating and talking to Teuchi and Ayame, and then his friends would walk by and chat with him one by one, or sometimes in groups. They would revolve around the stand, because the stand was in between the Hokage Tower and the hospital, between the training grounds and shinobi apartments. He could sit here and his life would revolve around him. He wanted to sit here but he couldn't, because while he wanted to sit here, every cell in his body was screaming for him to get out, head South-East, and then south, go towards the Tea Country border. Head towards salvation.

When they finish eating and Naruto paid for their meal –Naruto's filthy rich now, especially with the A and S-ranked missions he did on a regular basis- Naruto walked Sakura to the hospital. It was a comfortably silent walk and Naruto's canine-sensitive ears picked up Sakura humming a tune under her breath. It lifted some unknown weight off of his shoulders to see her like this, happy and content, even though he knew that just mentioning Sasuke's name could ruin all of that. It was rare, these days, to see Sakura anything but content and cheerful. It made him wonder if she was blocking everything that had to do with Sasuke from her mind. Was she purposely not thinking about him? Did she not want Sasuke home anymore?

No; that was crazy. He and Sakura had made a promise. She wouldn't forget about it, not even in order to be happy.

"I'll see you later, Naruto," Sakura said once they were at the gates of the hospital. "I'm going to have lunch with Ino and her guys tomorrow, are you coming?"

"Nope!" He said, grinning at her. "I'm gonna see what I can find in the library, then test it out in the Forest of Death. I haven't learnt any new jutsu lately."

"Well, you can spare a few minutes for lunch, can't you?"

No, he really couldn't.

So he brought out the big gun. "I'm going to be training in my Sage Mode," he said simply, sending her an apologetic look. He was lying again. It was necessary. He needed to be away and he needed for his friends to not look for him.

"Oh," Sakura breathed, her eyes suddenly gaining a glazed look. She had never really gotten comfortable with his Sage Mode. She knew that it was powerful and had saved his life countless times and that it was one of many reasons that Konoha was still standing, but she didn't trust it. She didn't like that it made Naruto appear less human every time he used it, and that it required him to be perfectly still for him to access it. She didn't like it, and that was just that. Now, whenever he mentioned doing anything with it, she tended to shy away, politely and subtly. "Well, I guess it's okay then."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Well, bye!"

And he was off.

"Naruto!"

X

Tsunade paused in her writing, glanced up at the massive blonde in front of her –who all too often reminded her of Jiraiya with his size- and then went back to writing. She repeated this sequence thrice more before Naruto huffed and sat himself down on a chair.

"What, Obaa-chan?"

"What, what?" She mumbled softly without glancing up, this time not stopping in her writing.

"Why were you giving me that look? We've done this a hundred times before. Don't tell me you're choosing now of all times to start getting all suspicious on me." He crossed his right ankle and rested it on his left knee; a position much too casual to be in the presence of the Hokage. Then his dangling right foot started wriggling to a rhythm only in his head.

"I know, brat," the elder woman said calmly. "Can't really help it if I sometimes wonder where you go, who you see, what you do. Homura and Koharu are getting ridiculous." She frowned, pausing in her writing in her writing, and released a frustrated breath. Out the large window behind her, a crow flew by, surprisingly random. "They don't know what you're up to, not that I do either, but they're becoming more and more imaginative. Soon they're going to have every available ANBU trailing after you. Here." She finished and rolled up the tiny scroll, tied it up and tossed it towards Naruto.

"Thanks," he muttered, tucking it securely into his pouch. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more."

"Don't be sorry. You wouldn't do anything too outrageously stupid, but you have to remember that these two oldies have a very important say in who becomes the next Hokage. You've done everything right. You're Hokage in every way but by official status and these two are the only ones standing in your way. You'd best start sucking up to them." It was the glint from within her golden eyes that told him she was joking.

Naruto mocked a wince. "Eww! I'd never, 'Baa-chan! I'm going to convince them with my impressively large muscles and winning charm." He wriggled his brows at the Hokage and grinned.

"Right, 'cause that would work out so well."

"The Old Man Hokage trusted them to be by his side, trusted them to look after Konoha with him. That means they're good people. They don't like me, but if I prove myself to them, they might eventually see reason. They'll realise I'd do anything for this village."

"Right," the Hokage mumbled to herself.

After a stretch of silence, Naruto hesitantly said, "Umm, did anything come up?"

To which Tsunade replied with a sigh. "It's ridiculous that I'd understand what you mean just from that, and no, there isn't anything." She watched sadly as hurt and grief flickered across Naruto's blue eyes. Two years of constant lack of news and his reaction never changed. Inwardly she cursed at the Uchiha; cursed at him for being so bull-headed and so full of rage, cursed at him for not seeing that there were people here who loved him.

"Well, you'll tell me if there is, right?"

He took his leave without another word, and she muttered to herself, "Right."

X

The place he hid Itachi couldn't be called a village, or a town. It actually didn't have a name. It was just an establishment really. Thirteen simple houses were there, along with one large, empty hall. It was located twenty seven miles from the Tea-Fire Country border, on the Fire Country side. The establishment was set up some five years ago to protect a seal there. The Lords of Fire and Tea country had agreed to put a protective seal there, right on the ground, so that any shinobi entering into the four hundred kilometres circle would not be able to use their chakra to perform jutsu. This act was performed with the sole purpose of protecting the trees. Apparently the forest was a common battle ground for shinobi, and in the midst of it all, countless trees had been destroyed. And so a giant seal was conjured and drawn right onto the soil, and families were chosen to look out for it. Nobody actually worried about the seal being destroyed because nobody wanted it destroyed. Ninjas tend to destroy a boat-load of trees when they're fighting other ninjas. Naruto, the handsome war hero that he was, had done his share of tree destroying. The Rasen-Shuriken and the Summoning jutsu were on top of his list of 'most tree-destroying jutsus.'

When one stopped to think about it, it actually made sense. Trees take a long time to grow, and get destroyed within seconds. This seal thing? Pure genius… Except for when Naruto first took Itachi there and needed to do some major chakra work because Itachi had been a zombie with flesh slowly rotting away. It had been troublesome, but he could eventually draw up a counter-seal, one that allowed him and Itachi to use chakra and form jutsu, but only in a certain space like, say, the house he –his clones- built for Itachi. That house had been the thirteenth house.

This was where Naruto took Itachi to, two years ago, right after the War ended.

The path he travelled on now was a very familiar one. It hadn't changed in the last two years. The one difference was the time he took to travel through it. Two years ago it had taken him four days to get from Konoha to Itachi, but now it only took him three hours. It was this simple fact that allowed him to see the progress he'd made with himself. He said he'd work on his speed –because what was great, destructive power without speed? And he never would have noticed his progress if it wasn't for this little journey.

The forestry was average, occasionally bald, but the closer he got to Itachi and the seal, the thicker the greenery became. Naruto would take the time to admire the lush greenness if he wasn't travelling at the speed of near-light, and if he wasn't counting the seconds until he next saw Itachi. And thinking of Itachi, he quickly glanced down at himself. He was wearing the standard green vest of a jounin, and the usual black slacks. But where the rest of the jounin populace wore the usual long sleeved black shirt under the vest, Naruto wore a long sleeved dark-red shirt. The village thought it was his way of being unique –Naruto's own style!- but really, it was his way of honouring Kurama, thanking him for what he'd done for him and Itachi. When people complimented him on his shirt, Naruto laughed, because they were complimenting on the very same demon they once hated him for.

Before the first house was within his sight, Naruto stopped and took off his vest and forehead protector. It was a simple point of fact. With Itachi's current, slowly deteriorating mental state, anything could set him off. By setting off, it didn't mean that Itachi would suddenly snap and go on a rampage. With this Uchiha, setting off meant him retreating so far into his own head that it'd take four to five days just to get him to start talking. And with time and Itachi's mind wasting away, Naruto couldn't afford that. To make Itachi whole again Naruto had one act left to do, and today he would do just that.

After sealing his vest and forehead protector into a scroll for easy carriage, he continued on. He arrived and saw the first house. Five kids were playing with a ball in front of it; two boys and three girls. The ball was small and old and falling apart, but the game was fierce. From the laughter of the girls and the pout-scowl on the boys' faces, Naruto could guess that the boys were losing badly and the girls were reminding them if it every second. One girl in particular, with short spikey hair, reminded him of Anko. She danced around the boys, laughing at and mocking them more than she paid attention to the game. A smirk adorned her face.

He walked around their playground, marching straight to Itachi's house without further delay. He'd already lost half a day; couldn't afford to lose anymore.

Compared to the other houses, the one Itachi was in looked incredibly simple and small. It highly resembled the apartment Naruto had grown up in; four walls, a bed, a table and chairs, and a door. When Naruto and his clones had been building it, it never occurred to him that he was duplicating his own apartment. But when he was finished and stood to take a proper look at it, he thought 'No other place like home.' He'd watched Itachi's face as he presented him with this house, waiting to see disappointment or distaste, but til this very day, Naruto still didn't know how Itachi felt about the house. Itachi never gave him a reaction; just acceptance.

The house, now two years later, was just as it had been, but dustier. It was slowly falling apart, but that was okay. Naruto had never intended for it to last more than three years. It was temporary, built so that it would protect Itachi's body as he healed and was reanimated.

In the house he found Uchiha Itachi on the floor, cradling tiny, crystalline pieces of broken glass in his left palm.

"Hey," Naruto breathed out, a small, fragile smile coming on to his face. "What are you doing?"

"… Counting," was the reply.

"Okay. What are you counting?" It didn't particularly make him feel good talking to Itachi as if he was a child, but it was necessary. He wasn't entirely sure yet if Itachi was normal, or if he was in one of his moods again. If he was normal and Naruto talked to him like he would to a child, the most harm that would come would be him offending Itachi. That was almost nothing.

Itachi turned his head towards Naruto, and gave him a distasteful look.

"Right," Naruto declared. "You know what? Doesn't matter. Come here; give me that before you hurt yourself."

Itachi hesitated, and for a moment Naruto thought things would go his way for once, but then Itachi's hand twitched, the glass particles glistered, and he was lost to Naruto. "You wouldn't understand." And he lowered his eyes and went back to counting.

Cold, bitter defeat weighed at Naruto's heart, and he gritted his teeth and muttered, "Alright."

He moved towards Itachi to get the pieces of glass out of his hand, but Itachi already had both his hands cupping the broken glasses, his shoulders hunched protectively around it. Naruto convinced himself that Itachi wasn't doing anything dangerous, just staring at the glistering pieces in his palm. It was the only way he could let it go. If he put a stop to it now, Itachi would no doubt break another glass and recount whatever he was counting. Or worse, he would grind his teeth and retreat so far back into his own head Naruto would have to wait another month to get a real conversation out of him.

Instead, he took a hard look at Itachi's body and compared what it was now to what it was two years ago. Doing this always made him feel better. He loved seeing how much he had done for Itachi, who in turn had done so much for Konoha. And the difference, well, it was so obvious that even a blind person would somehow, in some way, notice.

For one, Itachi looked alive. Where his skin used to be grey and paper-like, it was now creamy and smooth, unbelievably so. It looked supple, doll-like. Maybe it looked so perfect because before that it was grey and paper-like, rotting and peeling off. Whatever, all Naruto cared about was that Itachi's skin was alive and it was healthy. Eighteen months of pumping Kurama's Yang chakra into one's body would do that to you. When he'd been at his lowest, when Itachi was slowly rotting away after the war, Naruto had begged Kurama to talk to him, say anything. How could he save Itachi? What could he do for the man who did everything for everyone else? How could he make Itachi whole and alive again?

The Demon fox had said, 'My Yang chakra, the one that was sealed into you, it's all about vitality. Use it, kid; use it to breathe life into him. And if that doesn't work, you'd best bury him.' He'd said it simply, unsympathetically. He didn't care about Itachi like Naruto did.

He hadn't taken Kurama's words seriously at first, but when he came up with nothing and Itachi was still dying again, he'd taken Kurama's words for what they were; serious and literal. He'd made a clone, then made a special seal to dump Kurama's Yang chakra into, and left the clone here with Itachi. The clone then spent a year and a half slowly, steadily pushing the chakra into Itachi's body. And it worked. After a year, Itachi's liveliness had become obvious. The dullness in his eyes that had come back with him from the dead disappeared, his flesh flushed and smoothed, and any and all marks disappeared. It was like he had been reborn; not a scar on him. Although, Naruto doubted that he had any in the first place. Someone would have to be pretty darn incredible to get close enough to scar Itachi. Anyway, nearly two years and Itachi's body was back, better than ever apparently, because he wasn't experiencing the disease that ate at him due to the Mangekyou Sharingan. He wasn't dying. He was here and he was going to stay.

That problem was solved… but two more arose.

While Itachi's body was back from the dead, his mind wasn't… not exactly. It seemed that while his body got healthier and healthier, his mind slowly crumbled away, piece by piece. Naruto hadn't noticed until a year ago. Itachi hadn't exactly been the type of person who let it be known when he was going insane. He was distracted, most days. When talking to Naruto his eyes would gradually wander off, over his shoulder, over his head, anywhere but on Naruto, never really focusing. And then sometimes he'd stop listening, as if any word spoken in the living world wasn't exciting enough. Then, he'd just get lost. Naruto once found him slumped against a tree, his hands limp by his sides and his eyes faraway. His head was slumped back against the tree and his eyes stared up, lost in the blueness of the sky. He sat there for three hours and Naruto sat beside him, watching over the body whose soul had wandered off, waiting for him to come back. Scared out of his wits.

When he did, Itachi said, 'I was playing with Sasuke. He was two and I was seven. That's not right, is it?' And Naruto got it. Itachi was losing it, and he knew it and he couldn't do anything about it. He'd said to Naruto while looking at him with big, dark eyes. 'What did I tell you, Naruto?'

That day, Naruto had gone to sleep with his mind clogged up with guilt and shame. He hadn't regret keeping Itachi here, but he did regret not thinking things through, not seeing this coming. One of the first things Itachi had warned him about, right after the war when he realised what Naruto had intended to do with him, was that he wasn't going to live if he couldn't keep his mind. Naruto hadn't listened. He had been too busy keeping Itachi alive.

Since then he'd wondered if this was what people meant when they said that when a person dies, everything ends. Even if his body had been brought back to life, Itachi's soul and mind knew he was meant to be dead.

And that was problem number two. This problem was the reason he was here today. He was going to solve it; him and Kurama both. Together they were going to make Itachi whole and then Itachi was going to be healthy and alive and happy. He's going to be happy! Naruto would make sure of it.

Presently, Naruto heaved. "Are you finished counting yet?" He asked the stilled form of Itachi.

Itachi's head inclined slightly to the side, and Naruto took that as a 'no.' Then, as if he realised that Naruto would be breathing down his neck until he finished counting, Itachi said, "There's food in the cupboard."

"Oh, good!"

Naruto jumped up and hopped to the other side of the little rectangular room they called home. Upon doing this he realised he'd walked in with his sandals on. He balanced himself on the eating table with one hand, and slipped them off with the other. Then he left them there, beside the table, and searched for something to eat. It's occurred to him several times that he should be more polite and put his sandals away properly, but to do that it would feel wrong. He should be comfortable, this was his home too. His clone had lived here for nearly eighteen whole months. His clone…

… who had become problem number three.

Naruto hadn't been thinking too thoroughly when he had started this quest to make Itachi better. He'd never be able to say that enough times. He hadn't cared much about the consequences, just that he couldn't bear to let Itachi die again. Naruto would have been able to live his life contently knowing he had the chance to help Itachi, but hadn't. Itachi deserved better, deserved happiness. And then Naruto made the clone. A year and a half later he dispelled it. Naruto had expected it, but hadn't been prepared when a eighteen months' worth of memories and experiences and feelings flooded him into unconsciousness. Even the Great Nine-Tailed Fox had trouble sorting them out and preventing them from harming Naruto himself. Eventually, after nearly a month of living in his clone's shoes, the memories settled. That wasn't the end of the problem number three. This was where it started.

One day Naruto was just trying to give Itachi a second chance, and then the next he was so much closer to Itachi, all because his clone had been. While Naruto was almost afraid to touch Itachi in fear that he would fall apart, his clone had no trouble. The clone constantly touched Itachi; touching his hair, clapping him on the shoulders, trailing his fingers along his arms. He did it because he was curious.

_'You had a tan, I remember. When you and Hoshigaki Kisame came to get me, when I was twelve, you remember? You had a tan. I wonder why that didn't come back.' Too deep in his own thoughts, Naruto the Clone touched the soft skin on Uchiha Itachi's cheek, and pinched it between his thumb and forefinger._

_When the action caught up with him, he froze. Fear, terror, surprise, embarrassment, shame and everything associated with all those emotions flooded him. He'd crossed a line. There was a line there, and he'd stupidly crossed it._

_He dared to look up, to look into the eyes –how stupid, to look into the eyes where the Sharingan had once been- of Uchiha Itachi. It seemed that he was right to feel the terror. Itachi glared down at him, his eyes cold and the muscles of his brand new body pulled taut. His face, however, did not have one hint of any expression on it. For a moment he was unpredictable. He could be friend or foe, and Naruto wasn't prepared for the latter._

_'Don't do that,' Itachi said._

_'Huh?' The sound escaped him softly, whimsically._

_'I said, don't do that, Naruto.' The troughs under Itachi's eyes deepened, and his eyes tightened._

_But despite his cautioning words, and his cold, harsh glare, Itachi did not physically stop Naruto. Did it mean Naruto could possibly get away with it if he did it again? After all, he had no intention of never ever touching Itachi again. This couldn't be the last time._

Itachi was his legacy. If Naruto should suddenly die in the near future before he had kids, then he would leave Itachi behind. Itachi was alive because of him; he was healthy and supple and brand new all because Naruto wanted him to be. In some way, Itachi was his, and his clone had realised this. It made sense, too, that Naruto would sometimes feel envious. The clone was able to touch, smell, and be near Itachi when Naruto was stuck running back and forth, trying to be Hokage and keep Itachi hidden and find Sasuke.

His clone, for one and a half years, had it all.

_'Hey, is it weird when the real me and me are around?'_

_Itachi turned lazy eyes to him and Naruto did his best to ignore how distant they looked. 'Naruto, the way you phrase your questions confuse me.'_

_'But you understand what I wanna ask.'_

_'Yes, but it also irritates me.'_

_The clone scoffed. 'You're just obsessed with proper language and crap like that. On the battlefield it won't matter.'_

_'Yes, it would. No, it isn't.'_

_'What?' Naruto asked worriedly. Something's been going on with Itachi's head lately, subtle things, but the older man's never let it slip like this. 'What?' He asked again._

_Itachi breathed out slowly, so slowly it was almost a soft sigh. 'It isn't weird, when there are two of you around. Why do you ask?' Oh._

_'Well, I just… I mean, you never treat me differently when the real me is around…' He trailed off as his words became lost to him. There was a silence, and then he tried again. 'When there are two of us, you treat us the same… even though the real me has been around you only a third of the time I've been around you.' Fired up, he moved closer to Itachi, who sat calmly on his futon. 'Really, I'm closer to you than him, but I'm still him. Shouldn't it be weird to you? Doesn't it confuse you?'_

_Itachi stared at him. Up close, it became distractingly obvious just how attractive Itachi was. Long lashes, thicker than any male Naruto's ever met, surrounding big eyes. The eyes, big and shiny and bottomless, were spaced perfectly apart on either side of a small, straight nose, which was on top of soft-looking lips. These features were the ones that were very similar to Sasuke's, but Sasuke couldn't be called pretty. Sasuke was handsome, fierce looking, mean looking, hot. Itachi was all that too –except for the mean looking one- but he could also be called pretty. There was something setting these two brothers apart, one that set pretty apart from too-bastardy-to-be-pretty._

_'You don't know what you're saying, Naruto.'_

_And Naruto had been so lost in his observation of Itachi's prettiness that he really didn't know what he was saying anymore. In fact, why was he even sitting so close to Itachi in the first place?_

Even when the clone was dispelled and everything flooded back to Naruto, it still wasn't the same. In the end, it wasn't his hand that had touched Itachi, it wasn't him that had become close to Itachi.

_Naruto was staring at Itachi. This wasn't an unusual start of a day. In fact, lately that's always how it started. Naruto woke up first, set up the scroll containing Kurama's Yang chakra, and soothingly pumped a fraction into Itachi as the older man slept. Then, when he was finished, he put the scroll away, packed up his futon, and sat and stared at Itachi._

_That was how it went, and there hadn't been any desire in him to change the routine._

_He stared, he looked. Didn't matter what he did. It wasn't enough. For it to be enough, he'd need to stare at Itachi for a million years. He was familiar with Itachi's body. From what he'd been created to do, he had to be, but it wasn't enough. He looked and looked and looked, because he knew that Itachi was human. At one point or another he was going to yawn, or smile, or sneeze and he was going to prove that he was the kind brother who loved his little brother, like Madara had said he was. Maybe this was why Naruto was waiting, never to look away and miss that moment. Maybe it was something else._

_'I don't like that you do that. Is there any way you'd stop?'_

_"Heh, you talk as if you're my prisoner. Whatever you want, I'll give it to ya.'_

_Itachi gave him an unbelieving look, which Naruto thought he deserved. After all, the thing that Itachi had wanted the most a couple of months ago was a peaceful rest. He'd wanted death, which had been ripped from him when he was resurrected by Kabuto during the war. And Naruto had kept on denying him his eternal rest._

_'Hey,' Naruto said. 'Come on, we've moved past this.' Or maybe it was just him that had moved on from that topic. Maybe it was just Naruto that was lying to himself, so he wouldn't feel guilty that he was denying Itachi the one thing he almost had. Gently he moved forward and wound his arms around Itachi, then helped him sit up._

_Itachi's whole body tensed, and it hurt Naruto that he still thought he couldn't trust Naruto. Oh sure, trust Naruto to bring Sasuke back home, bring the guy back from the darkness, but don't trust him to help him sit up. 'Naruto, I'm strong enough to do this on my own.'_

_'Yeah but I like touching you.' This came out sounding unexpectedly perverted. 'I… No, I mean, I want to… wait, I'd better not say anything.'_

_Luckily, Itachi ignored him. As it had been mentioned, this was a morning g routine. Itachi was just as used to Naruto's spluttering as Naruto was used to embarrassing himself. Moving back, Naruto watched as Itachi gathered himself. The older man breathed slowly, rhythmic, and Naruto felt tired just from watching him. Even having slept the whole night, Itachi still woke up drowsy. But that didn't matter. He was getting better. His skin, at the very least, was no longer grey and paper-like. His nails, too, looked fresher and pinker. And his hair… his hair…_

_Before he knew it, Naruto's got a lock of long, dark hair twined in his fingers. Itachi, at this action, didn't even move, which led to Naruto's conclusion that the man was at least used to Naruto's staring and touching. Then, he only had a problem with being manhandled… which Naruto could totally understand. Nobody liked being manhandled. He made a small, wave-like motion with his fingers, and the healthy-looking strands slipped out of his fingers._

_'Your hair is… it's long. I really like it.''_

Problem number three was this: Naruto was pretty sure –almost definitely sure- that his clone had been in love with Itachi. He could easily know this for sure. All he had to do was delve himself into the muddled memories of the clone's. But til this day, that had been the one thing he had been too afraid to do. He didn't want to acknowledge the clone's feelings.

A rattling sound behind him caused him to jump.

"Hey!" He cheered. "You finished? Finally?"

"Yes, I'm finished. Did you eat?"

A little put out, Naruto said, "No." He stared longing at the still-closed cupboard door, shook his head, and turned fully around to face Itachi. "Have you taken a look at the seal? Is there a problem with it?"

The Uchiha looked blankly at Naruto for a second, before dumping the glass particles into a small bowl and washing his hands. "I've looked at it," he said. "It would work. I'm impressed. I had no idea you were so good with seals."

Naruto's heart suddenly fluttered, and his eyes widened, startled at the effects Itachi's words had on him. Before he dispelled his clone, this type of reaction would never have occurred. Doing his best to cover up his reaction –no matter how small, Itachi noticed- Naruto grinned. "Well, of course! Pervy Sage was my teacher, you know." His grin turned into a fond smile. That's one thing he and the clone had in common. They could never help the fond look when they're around Itachi. "So, are you ready? I think we should start immediately."

"Yes," Itachi said quietly. "You're going to make me new and healthy again, there's nothing I can do to stop you. Come, I found a place." The blond hero pointedly ignored his companion's slight input of a sarcastic tone. They were so over the point where Itachi continued to refuse to live this miserable life and Naruto forced him to anyway.

Naruto scrambled to slip his sandals back and keep up with the older man. Together they walked silently away from the colony, further into the forest. There was a breeze and it caressed Naruto's unusually exposed forehead. He rubbed at it, and then ruffled his wild hair. It was longer and wilder now, and he wasn't sure yet whether to make it short again or let it grow. He liked that he could look in the mirror and see both himself and his parents. Now that he's met both his parents in his head, Naruto could see who he resembled. Despite the colouring, he really looked more like his mother. He's got her nose and her grin, her cheekbones too. The hair and the eyes were his father's.

Eventually, as it usually happened with him, the awkwardness started bothering him. And unlike his silent companion, Naruto cracked under awkwardness.

Naruto started saying, "So…" at the same time that Itachi said, "Inara…"

"Oh! Heh, you go first." He smiled encouragingly at Itachi. It wasn't often that Itachi was the one to start the conversation, quite the opposite actually.

Itachi looked up at him –Oh dear, Naruto's even taller than Itachi!- through thick, dark lashes. Then he gave Naruto a fond, indulgent look at his eagerness… and Naruto got it. That was the look Naruto always directed at Itachi. They were wearing the same expression for each other and Naruto understood why his poor, clueless clone fell so hard for this guy. The moment he first summoned that clone, there was never really any doubt. He had made that clone spend every waking hour with Itachi, speaking to, looking at and sleeping in the same house. The clone had to fall in love –because Itachi was just that amazing a person- or it would have had to have gone crazy and stabbed himself. And he fell, hard, and now Naruto had no idea what to do with all the clone's feelings.

"Inara gave birth. We've all been celebrating since then."

"Yeah? When did she give birth?"

"Five days ago."

The blonde laughed. "Man, wish I'd have been here. Oh… you said 'we.' You've been celebrating too? Ha-ha, I can't imagine. So is the baby a boy or a girl?"

"A girl."

The forest around them was thick and green, untouched. Once again it drove some guilt into Naruto. All the forests in the fire nation would be this beautiful too, if they weren't being constantly destroyed.

"Kenji is possibly the happiest man on Earth."

Naruto grinned. Kenji… well, Kenji was a big softie, a family man. He doted on his son, and now he's got a daughter to dote on too. Sneaking a glance at Itachi out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto smiled to himself. Itachi wasn't an idiot that he would delude himself, but Naruto knew that he sometimes liked to indulge himself in this normalcy. It was a sad world, this world that Itachi lived in. A little normalcy could never hurt. Naruto had no idea what it was like to grow up in the Uchiha clan –could only imagine it- and he didn't even want to try and imagine the pain that Itachi must be in, to have done what he did.

Bitterly, Naruto remembered Kurama's words. 'How devastating… that power would be bestowed upon the one who desired it the least.'

He shook his head and quickly shied away from those thoughts. If there was one thing he knew not to do, it was to think about Itachi's pain. He would only drown in it.

Finally they stopped in a small clearing. The area was shaded and thin beams of sunlight made the place picturesque. The grass under their feet was so thick and green and lush that Naruto immediately took off his sandals and wriggled his toes in them. It was cool. The grass was cool and soft. Beside him Naruto observed silently as Itachi followed suit. Unlike him, Itachi managed to look cool and elegant while doing it. In the back of his mind Naruto thought about getting down on his knees and smelling the grass, but decided that that was a bit too much. Grass could only be so cool.

"This will do, won't it?" Itachi asked him. "It's far away enough that nobody would wander here, and it'll provide us with shelter."

"Yeah," Naruto breathed, eyes still wandering around the small but beautiful clearing. "Okay, did you bring the scroll?"

Itachi gave him a dry look. Right; of course he did. He brought the scroll out from within his sleeve and proceeded to set it up, using ink and herbs and blood among others. Naruto watched.

What they were doing… simply put, Naruto was temporarily relocating Kurama into Itachi.

Of course, this still wouldn't make Itachi a Jinchuuriki because Naruto has already taken all of Kurama's chakra during the merge, which happened during the war.

This act was designed to last for only a couple of weeks, and when the time was over, Kurama's conscience would slowly seep back into Naruto. By that time, the Fox would have already fixed up Itachi's mind; stabilised it, sorted it. It sounded risky, and it was. Naruto was counting heavily on Kurama to not turn on them and take over Itachi. Then again, there wouldn't be much point in doing that, the Fox told him. Itachi's new body was brand new and healthy, but it was also considerably weaker. The process of putting life back into Itachi had cleansed his chakra network. It wasn't tainted with the effects of the Sharingan anymore, which made him that little bit weaker. Kurama? Well, Kurama wasn't interested in anything other than the best, which often gave Naruto's ego quite a boost. After all, Kurama was only ever interested in him. Naruto just wished that a lot of the time the interest wasn't something to do with tearing his limbs apart, or eating him, or burning him… etc.

Concerning Itachi, Kurama's assurance came in short sentences. 'He's Uchiha blood. I'll be in there, fix up what I can, and then I'll leave. There's nothing there for me. He's not as fierce as his brother.'

Naruto, though, kept silent about Itachi. Never in any universe will Itachi be weak. Even without his Mangekyou Sharingan, Naruto was pretty sure Itachi could find a way to wipe the floor with him. He was just that awesome.

That thought leaned a little too close to Clone territory… and Clone territory he would not enter.

"Your hair is longer!" He blurted out "It's… ah, it's pretty." A tense moment… and Naruto threw his head back and looked up at the sky. 'I'm an idiot,' he cried silently.

In the middle of the clearing Itachi sat and took off his shirt, ready for Kurama's relocating. From behind, Naruto watched as Itachi's head inclined slightly to the side. It didn't make him feel better that he remembered –from his clone's memories- the clone convincing Itachi to not cut his hair. The clone liked Itachi with long hair… Naruto liked Itachi with long hair. It was Itachi's look; nice and gentle and soft, even when he might not have been those things.

'I need you to cut my hair, Naruto. My arms are not in the right condition to do it.'

'Why? It's fine the way it is.' The words were followed by a hand gently running through the dark strands. It was a familiar hand. 'Don't cut it yet, please? Leave it for a while.'

Clearing his throat loudly and taking deep breaths –because the Clone's memories were so easy to get lost in, always so pleasant- Naruto stepped over the circular seal mark and sat behind Itachi. His hands shook as he was presented with a bare back, smooth, pale skin and a long, elegant neck. Naruto had seen plenty of backs, but this one stole his breath. Damn that stupid clone for going and falling in love. What clone does that? That border-lined mutiny!

Itachi gathered his hair and tugged it forward and over his right shoulder. Welcome, more pale, bare back. Five tiny marks adorned his upper back, in between his shoulder blades. The marks did nothing to make Uchiha's back any less attractive. He could just hear the warning wailing in his head as he sat there. Warning! Warning! Clone territory! Hazardous! Direct your thoughts away now or risk dealing with love. Outwardly, Naruto grimaced. Itachi's exposed sexy back? No problem, because Naruto was too busy being disturbed by his own head. It didn't help that the warning rant was in the voice of one infamous Jiraiya.

"Oh, for the love of…" Naruto clutched at his chest. He'd heard somewhere that stress could shorten one's lifespan. Being with Itachi for half a day while trying to battle his clone's nearly overwhelming feelings probably meant Naruto's only got about twenty years left, if he didn't die heroically saving his people first.

"Naruto," Itachi's cool, collected voice spoke to him. It was a call, a reminder and a warning al in one. And why did he have to say it with such a polite tone and make Naruto feel like an idiot? Because he was an Uchiha, that's why.

A loud, awkward laugh escaped Naruto. "Right! I'm on it!"

He took a deep breath, let it out, and brought up his right palm. He summoned up his red chakra and channelled them onto his fingertips. Controlling the chakra was the easy part. The part that he had to grit his teeth against was the burning on his fingers. Using Kurama's –but now officially hi- chakra had never hurt, but this time it had to. He wasn't using it to fight; to make jutsu, to control fire. He was using it to do so much more. The equivalent of what he was going to do was as if he was digging his fingers into Itachi's spinal cord, and letting Kurama's conscience ooze into the older man. It sounded simple enough, but pulling it off was going to be a bitch.

And time wise, it was most likely they'd both wake up tomorrow morning.

Outwardly, Naruto placed his burning fingertips lightly on Itachi's back, in alignment with the five marks.

And as he fell, a concerned thought nipped at his mind.

What were you counting, Itachi? What do broken glasses remind you of?

It couldn't possibly have been anything good.


	2. Part 2

When Naruto first told Kurama about the idea of transferring him to Itachi and explained his thoughts on the seal, Kurama had straight out said, "When you finish this seal of yours, and I have no doubt that you will, and when this whole entire mess is done, you and the Uchiha are going to be connected in a way that no two other people on Earth would be. Just make sure you're ready for that, what with the way you're trying to ignore your clone's feelings towards him."

Naruto had tried not to dwell on that too much; couldn't let himself hesitate. He couldn't let himself think about anything that would compromise Itachi's health. Hesitating and doubting things would do that. He'd made himself almost blind and stupid to all the consequences in his quest to help Itachi. One day, in the very near future, things were going to come back and bite him in the ass. But as long as Itachi was well and alive, he knew it would all be worth it.

X

Ever since the truth of the Uchiha massacre had been slammed into his head, Naruto always wondered what Itachi had been like as a child. For one, he couldn't have been like Naruto. No way. Naruto couldn't imagine it. He couldn't see Itachi as man who had been loud and cheeky and ignorant as a child. And for two, Naruto doubted that Itachi even had a childhood at all. The Third Shinobi World War would have still been raging when Itachi was but a toddler, and only a few years after that, Madara had attacked Konoha with Kurama. So nobody could blame Naruto if he thought that Itachi had never really been just a child.

Transferring Kurama into Itachi, Naruto didn't really expect to be pulled along too. He was just supposed to be the bridge between the two consciences; to hold Itachi's open and let Kurama in. He expected to be that much closer to Itachi by doing that, but he didn't expect to be pulled in as well by Kurama.

The Nine Tailed Fox's conscience was like flowing lava. It was hot and suffocating, but it was also old and… strangely at peace. It flowed through Naruto. He couldn't tell if it was flowing from the right to the left or from the top to the bottom. It just swept in, through Naruto, and out, into Itachi's crumbling mind. And then, the very last of Kurama's conscience lashed onto him and pulled him into Itachi too.

Naruto was so shocked that he froze, absolutely and completely.

And he continued to be frozen as he took into the state of Itachi's mind, or his soul, or his spirit, whatever it was. It was crap. Naruto's was a sewer, full of pipes and tunnels and metal –it was lonely as hell, but it was stable-, but Itachi's was a just a flat, dry clearing, with crumbled walls and broken doors, and everything appeared to perpetually be in shades of dark blue, grey and black. It was a nightmare scenario. It was horrific. Naruto couldn't spot a living thing anywhere.

He released a heavy breath, and it came out sounding like a hysteric laugh. "Ahaha…" he trailed off weakly.

He stayed there and waited for Kurama. It was the fox that pulled him along in the first place. If the old demon wasn't with him, then Naruto had no intention of moving from that very spot. Knowing Itachi's current state, he could end up breaking something, and the damage would be permanent.

"It's not as bad as it looks," a deep, echoing voice spoke next to his ear. "For an Uchiha, this place is surprisingly tidy."

Naruto directed a horrified look at the floating, smoky figure next to him. Kurama appeared to him as a big, floating fox-head. The eyes were just as narrowed and angry-looking, the mouth pulled back in a mischievous grin. "You've gotta be kidding," he muttered. "Look at this place. It's literally falling apart." For emphasis he pointed towards the horizon of Itachi's mind, which was tinted white, as if it was a page slowly being ripped open, exposing the white, empty nothingness beneath. He wanted to say more, but then the strangest thing happened.

With his mouth hanging open, Naruto watched as a third figure raced across the horizon which he had been pointing at.

The figure was too far away for him to see for sure who it was. He only saw a long, flowing coat, long legs and messy hair as the mysterious figure sprinted. Fast. He or she –but Naruto had a feeling that it was a 'he'- moved unlike anybody had ever met in his life. Strangely enough, the speed, the coat and the hair had him thinking that perhaps his father also resided in Itachi's head, just as he had been in Naruto's for sixteen whole years. But no. Namikaze Minato had no reason to be in Itachi's head.

"Huh," Kurama scoffed by his side, narrowed eyes also watching the sprinter move. Naruto's hand limply fell to his side.

"What?" Naruto snapped when the demon refused to say anything else. "Am I the only one who's creeped out by this whole thing? Man, I shouldn't even be here. Why'd you bring me along?" And when Kurama continued to ignore him in favour of staring after the quickly-vanishing figure, Naruto added, "And who is he anyway?"

Kurama didn't answer right away. Instead, he said again, "Huh." Then he disappeared. Poof! And the giant floating fox-head dispatched. Naruto had no time to react. A second after the fox was gone, he reappeared by Naruto's other side. Poof!

There was a fluttering of a long coat, the softest thump of a footstep, and the figure that they'd been watching raced past Naruto, not even an arm's length away.

It was Naruto. It was another Naruto, but taller, broader, older, faster, stronger… Hokage. There was no doubt that Naruto was looking at himself. The three signature whisker marks were still there and his eyes were still the same blue, only narrower in shape. Naruto would spend hours pointing out the differences between himself, and the older him which resided in Itachi's mind, but he couldn't. He couldn't think any further than 'Hokage, Hokage, Hokage.' There was a Naruto inside Itachi's mind, and he was fast and strong and the freaking Hokage!

"What the hell… is going on?" He asked faintly, as the other him finally raced completely out of sight.

"There's no doubt that you're going to become the Hokage," Kurama purred, then looked around at the ruined landscape. "Not in here, at least."

"Really?" Naruto breathed, his eyes widening. Nothing but warmth and pride bloomed across his chest; a feeling not unlike when he had first laid eyes on Itachi after he dispelled the Clone. He was so happy that a soft, airy laugh escaped his lips. He stopped the laugh after a while, stood there smiling, and laughed again. It was one of the happiest moments of his life, and he had no idea how. 'Faith, faith, faith,' he chanted silently. 'Itachi has faith in me.' Suddenly, Naruto himself had no doubt. He was going to become the Hokage; absolutely and positively! It didn't matter at the moment that the elders thought he was sneaking off secretly to search for Sasuke, and they thought that his focus would be divided if he ever became Hokage. Didn't matter at all. He'd proof them wrong.

He'd show them how great he could be.

He'd do that, as soon as Itachi was more stable and he could bring the older man back with him to Konoha.

"Hey," he said softly. "Is that the only reason you brought me in here?"

"Hmm?"

"'Cause if it is, then can you send me out now? Then I want you to start making him better immediately. I want him fixed. I wanna bring him home."

"Don't make him sound like a machine that can be fixed easily," The Fox huffed, and breathed hot air around Naruto. "Get outta here, if you're in such a hurry."

"Thanks for this, Kurama. I owe you one."

The demon didn't reply, but Naruto thought he saw a wide grin spread across his canine mouth.

Feeling himself quickly detach from Itachi's cold, silent mind, Naruto half-heartedly glanced behind him for one last look.

He saw the scene of the Uchiha massacre, in full, bloody detail.

X

He opened his eyes, blinked several times, and shuddered. Immediately he recognised that there were things on him that shouldn't be there; leaves, dirt, and bird poo. In front of him, Itachi's shoulders were slightly red –from the sun exposure, probably-and his hair was wild and wind-blown. Dried, brown leaves were tangled up in the long, dark strands and a small dot of what appeared to be bird poop was on his left shoulder. Naruto winced in disgust. He had bird poo on him too, but they were on his shirt, not his skin. The air around them was fresh and moist, the sun just having left the horizon. It was morning, early morning. They've been sitting here for more than twelve hours and when Naruto shifted and his butt muscles protested, he knew that sitting there any longer would just be plain stupid.

He got up and immediately his body waged war against the action. His spine was stiff and ached, his muscles numb and his arms and legs uncoordinated. "Aha!" He cried out in pain and surprise. He wasn't even twenty yet! It shouldn't ache like this. "Save me!"

"If you're thinking that I'll carry you back, Naruto, I'll hurt you."

The blond slowly, gingerly arched backwards, wincing as his spine popped. Pop, pop, pop… pop, pop. Then he proceeded to stretch his arms over his head, and attempt to touch his toes. Fail. "I wasn't thinking that at all. I'd settle for you dragging me by my feet back home." He continued stretching his body, though it seemed that Itachi was being more thorough in his stretching. Half way through stretching his hamstring, Naruto glanced towards Itachi, and became distracted.

Itachi was stretching muscles that Naruto would never even think about in the span of five years. He watched the older man stand on one leg, the other he pointed the toe of. Like a dancer, he pointed his pale foot, and Naruto caught the tiny shifting of the muscles protecting his shin. Blue eyes widened. Such was the difference between someone who was in ANBU when he was twelve, and someone who hid ramen coupon in his hair. Itachi continued to stretch, his movements much more subtle than Naruto's, but much more effective.

"That looks…" he trailed off. What could he say? Of course Itachi would know all the secret places of the human body that Naruto wouldn't. He was an overachiever like that; an Uchiha.

"How do you feel?" The Uchiha asked him, relaxing his now fully stretched body. He turned to Naruto with concerned eyes, though his face revealed nothing.

"Me? I'm down one demon in here, I'm perfect…though, actually, I don' feel all that different. What about you?"

Itachi merely shook his head. No, of course not. It wasn't as if an extra conscience would suddenly make one's head heavier. Naruto predicted that Itachi wouldn't feel the difference until he was fully asleep. "Let's go back. I'm sure you're hungry."

Naruto gave Itachi the stink-eye once the older man had put his shirt on and started heading back to the house. Itachi was always doing that. Predicting Naruto as if he was… predictable. Did him being infamous for being the most surprising ninja of all time not mean anything?

The walk home was just as silent as the walk to the clearing. Naruto should start up a conversation, he really should, but he didn't know what to talk about. Begrudgingly he realised his clone would have no problem talking to Itachi, and Naruto would have no problem doing it too if he'd just stop trying to block the clone's feelings out. That was problem in itself. He was plenty sure that he wasn't supposed to fall in love with the older brother of his best friend who had gone missing right after the war, and who, Naruto was sure, was currently planning to destroy Konoha. Just because of this, he'd ignore the clone's feelings for as long as he could.

When their… Itachi's house was within sight, Naruto asked the older man, "Hey, what were you counting yesterday? With the broken glasses?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Why not?" And he tried very hard not to get his feelings hurt.

"You'll worry, and then you won't leave tomorrow."

"… You don't like me being here?"

"That's not what I said."

It's become very obvious that there was something he should worry about. What could Itachi have been counting that would take him so long?

But more importantly, it's become obvious that Itachi's behaviour towards him and his clone were different. The conclusion shouldn't hurt as much as it did at that moment, but it did, severely. The pain weighed heavy over his heart, cold and bitter. Naruto had never had this problem before.

Naruto raced forward and grabbed Itachi's shoulder, spinning him around with it. They were only a few steps away from their front door. "If I was a clone, the clone, would you talk to me?"

"Naruto," Itachi said, the name climbing out of his mouth and sounding as close as it ever would to a snap. The older man' lips tightened, whitened. His temper was making itself known and Naruto couldn't really blame him. Naruto was, without a doubt, acting childish. "Why are you behaving this way?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? But everything the clone did," he pointed to his temple, "it's in here. All of it. I know you two were close, really, really close, but there's none of that now. You don't talk to me like you did to the clone. You even act differently. It's like we're… strangers all over again."

"You and the clone… you're not different." Itachi stepped closer to him, looking into blue eyes intently. Naruto hated that look; hated that Itachi was examining him as if he was the one mentally unstable. "You should know that."

"Why aren't you opening up to me?"

A pause of silence, a long soul-piercing stare, and then Itachi brushed Naruto's hand off his shoulder and walked into the house, apparently having decided that Naruto was acting too childish to be dealt with.

"It's not really me that's changed. After you dispelled the clone you acted differently. I thought you needed time."

"Well… well…" Of course Itachi was right. Of the two of them, it was Naruto that was acting differently. He was being stupid. Kurama, and even Kakashi and Yamato have all told him that a clone is not another person. Shouldn't treat it like one. He opened his mouth to try and talk again, to say something on this awkward topic of theirs, but nothing came out. He didn't know what to say. He was being irrational, jealous of his own clone and Itachi probably thought he was the biggest idiot of all time. Naruto winced, looked apologetically at Itachi, and realised they were on opposite sides of the door. The distance was too great; it shouldn't be this way. Quickly he scrambled to pull his shoes off, step through the door and stopped in front of Itachi, mouth still working to form words, hands hanging awkwardly at his sides.

Naruto couldn't believe how stupid he had been, to attack Itachi like that… and about such a childish thing too. Now, he wished he could take it all back, wished that the clone's feelings weren't so powerful, so that he would have kept his mouth shut and just dealt with it without confrontation. But that wasn't his style. He needed confrontations. He just didn't want it to be this time. He wanted to change the subject very badly, but couldn't say anything. He'd started it. He didn't know how to finish it.

But Itachi… Itachi was so forgiving, because he was looking at Naruto expectantly. His dark eyes twinkled, just a little bit easing. He was giving Naruto the chance to change the subject, get away from this, and Naruto loved him so much for it. He ignored the warmth in his chest at the fact that he could understand Itachi without a word being exchanged.

"We should shower," Naruto said cheekily. Then his blue eyes widened, and he quickly added, "Not… together, I mean. We shouldn't shower together."

Itachi shot him a quick, indulgent gaze, and quickly and swiftly went into the bathroom, grabbing a towel along the way. His long hair swayed with his movement. He was still so regal, even with leaves and dirt in his hair and all over his body. Not for the first time Naruto wished he had more grace in him, just so he wouldn't feel like dirt at times like this. Itachi disappeared from view, and a heavy, relieved breath escaped Naruto's lips. Naruto had no doubt the older man was just as eager to forget this almost-argument as he was.

He didn't know how long he stood there, silent, until a loud, relieved laugh bubbled up his throat. That Itachi was willing to let it go made him giddy with relief, almost. 'That wasn't the right time,' he thought. The type of conversation that they almost had, the one involving a lot of emotions, could only occur when he was certain of his own feelings. Itachi wasn't confused about his feelings. Naruto was. And until he could sort them out and know for sure what he wanted, that conversation would have to wait.

One thing he was sure of was that Itachi was waiting for him. Naruto was confused, in denial, frustrated, but that was okay because Itachi was giving him time to sort it all out.

While Itachi cleaned himself up –and Naruto half-heartedly kept an ear out for anything unusual- he wandered into the kitchen section of the little hut. The food was scarce, but not so that Itachi would starve. He didn't eat much in the first place. Before he died he would have had to deal with his illness, the one that didn't let him keep food down and instead cough up blood. Then after he died and came back he was an un-dead; a zombie wouldn't need food. Then, as Kurama's Yang chakra was pumped into him and he was brought fully back to life in every way but the mind, well… he just didn't eat like Naruto ate.

 

_"Don't you get hungry?" Naruto the clone asked one evening. "I know we're a long way from you being all alive, but you should start to feel hunger right about now."_

_Itachi didn't look at him. His dark eyes were trained straight ahead, his body tensed as if he was still in enemy territory. "Maybe you're wrong. It could be that this isn't working."_

_"Aww, come on. Let's not do this tonight. You really think you can change my mind now? Itachi, you're staying and that's final." Itachi's lips moved, and Naruto quickly shouted._

_"Final!"_

_An annoyed look quickly passed over Itachi's eyes –and that's more liveliness than Naruto's seen in him in a while- and Naruto laughed. He laughed boisterously because that look was such an Uchiha look. He would proudly say to anyone that would listen that his purpose in life was to put that look in Uchihas' faces. And since there was only two left, well, he could say that his purpose was accomplished._

_"Fool," Itachi said softly, and Naruto should have known that Itachi was too polite to call anyone an idiot. Unlike his brother, who had no qualm about hurting other people's feelings. Itachi finally glared at him. Naruto determinedly stopped his lips from turning up and becoming a big grin. His determination, this time, wasn't enough and his lips ended up quivering idiotically. The reason for his amusement was glaringly obvious. When Sasuke glared, it was so fierce looking that a shadow would cross his face and his body appeared to tense up, ready to pounce. When Itachi glared, Naruto thought it rather looked like a pout. It wasn't, obviously, but it did look it when Naruto compared it to his younger brother. He found it hard to believe that this was the glare that many all across the ninja world cowered from, but at the same time, he had hope that this was the glare Itachi only reserved for those that weren't his enemies, those that he called fools with a fonder meaning behind._

_Naruto smiled at Itachi, hoping with all his heart that just a smile could make Itachi better. Iruka's smile used to make his day complete; it still did._

_"You're going to make me live a life without a purpose."_

_Naruto scoffed. "You can make happiness your life's purpose. Happiness is great. Food is happiness. I love it."_

_Another one of Itachi's none-lethal glare -a semi pout in Naruto's mind- and Naruto the Clone grinned and reached out to brush his hand against Itachi's hair. It would be the first of many touches that followed._

_Naruto the Clone almost cried in relief when, the next morning, Itachi finished a whole bowl of soup._

Naruto was humming happily as he slurped up his ramen, at the same time reliving the days between the clone and Itachi. It occurred to him, right at that moment, that the clone had had a better year and a half than Naruto did.

Naruto had spent his year and a half helping his comrades clean up after the war and running around doing dangerous but pointless missions assigned to him by the two elders. He'd once exploded on them, yelling and kicking and in the end; they won, because they held his dream in the palm of their tiny, wrinkly hands. Naruto knew they weren't horrible people, they cared about the village and they were damn smart, too smart. Within a few months they had figured he was up so something. They'd tried to send ANBU after him a couple of times when he came out to see Itachi, but he was pleased to say that he had been too fast for them. A few times he let himself be caught up, and then showed them Tsunade's scroll so they knew he had the Hokage's permission to be out of the village, even if the Hokage herself had no idea what he was doing. That left the elders to come up with their own conclusion, one that was the most logical, but not quite true. They thought he was sneaking off to try and find Sasuke, who was an S-Class criminal who had declared war on Konoha, right after the previous war had ended.

And that was Naruto the Real's year and a half. Cleaning up, sneaking out, playing innocent and being kept a wary eye on, all the while trying to be the next Hokage because if Konoha was going to war against Sasuke, then they really, really needed him.

Not for the first time he wished things weren't so complicated. He'd be happy just to spend all day at home with Itachi, eating, then sleeping, and training and then eating, then napping.

Things as they were now weren't horrible, though. In fact, with Kurama inside Itachi fixing things up, Naruto could just sleep with a smile on his face.

Soft footsteps sounded from behind him. They were soft because the owner wanted to be heard, so as to not startle Naruto. Itachi was naturally silent anyway.

Immediately there was tension. It was the good kind though. Naruto felt Itachi's strong presence behind him, as well as his stomach heating and dropping low. He smiled. His clone and Itachi had played this game several times before. Be silent, be teasing; who will speak first? No surprise at all; Itachi had never lost to him.

There was no doubt that Naruto would once again be the first one to speak and lose, but all the fun was in the time it would take for him to do so.

Naruto continued eating, his slurps quieter now, as he felt the older man's presence loom closer. Itachi's freshly showered scent hit only moments afterwards. Clean and fresh and earthly. The presence of the man and his lovely scent washed over the blonde, and he shuddered. He felt for his poor clone, who had to try and stay sane with all this intensity around. Maybe this was the very reason why the clone cracked and fell so intensely in love. Naruto's heard that people do weird things under pressure.

But no, no. People don't fall in love for reasons like this.

_Slurp!_

The noddle strands pooled on his tongue, and he contently swallowed them, fully aware that Itachi was now just walking past him. What he didn't expect was the feel of soft cloth brushing the back of his neck. The noodles, on their merry little way down his throat, side tracked and Naruto's whole body tensed, breath no longer going in and out of his lungs.

He spluttered and coughed, and heaved until tears gathered at his eyes. And to think, he could have died from just a brush-up.

Itachi's hard but slender hand landed on his back. It was as if the man had hit life back into Naruto, what with how suddenly breath climbed back into his lungs. Still, grateful as he was, it wasn't enough to make him forget that it was because of Itachi that he nearly lost his life to begin with. He brushed Itachi's hand away and glared. "Dude," he whined. Then he stopped. It felt strange to call Itachi 'dude.' Very strange. No matter what, Itachi just wasn't a 'dude'. Naruto quickly decided to never call him that again. "You could've killed me."

At this Itachi gave him an unimpressed raised eyebrow –and Naruto totally ignored how perfect it was- because this was not the time to be distracted.

"I mean it," Naruto continued to whine. "You could of…"

Itachi's thin lips twitched, and then he huffed quietly and closed his eyes in resignation. "Go clean up, Naruto. I can't stand the smell of you any longer."

Instead of being offended –as he would be if anybody else were to say that- Naruto chuckled and finished off his ramen, near death experience forgotten. "Please," he mumbled around his food. "Don't talk as if you still don't smell like bird crap. It's gonna take more than one shower to get rid of the stench." He offered Itachi his most impressive grin, while the older man glared furiously down at him. It was a lie; Itachi smelled wonderful. Naruto just loved riling Itachi up until he forgot everything but Naruto, which was an easy thing to do these days, what with Itachi's fragile state of mind.

Putting his chopsticks down, Naruto got up and headed for the shower, giving Itachi's waist a squeeze on the way. It was such a natural, habitual move –by his clone- that it didn't register in his head until he had his pants halfway down his legs. He sucked a breath in through clenched teeth, and carefully, calmly took the rest of his clothes off. He was going to take a shower. He was going to clean up and smell better. Shock and embarrassment would just have to wait.

Desperate to hold off any thoughts about what he'd done and how he'd given in to his clone's yearning towards Itachi, Naruto directed his thoughts somewhere else, anywhere.

His thoughts steamrolled over everything, and dived head first into the scene he saw before coming out of Itachi's head. It was a bitch, but at this point he had no choice but to think ' _He's a murderer_ ,' without instinctively readying his body for combat. The circumstances didn't really matter the circumstances; Itachi was a murderer and it should worry him that his clone… that he's fallen so deeply and completely in love with him. It should worry him, and it did actually, but it wasn't going to change anything. Naruto was in love and he didn't see it changing anytime soon. He couldn't see it changing at all. Naruto was going to die loving Itachi.

The confession drew out a long suffering, throaty groan from Naruto.

So much for not thinking about that.

He hissed and slammed his palm against the wall. The sudden act was not due to a fit of anger. Naruto wasn't angry. He just felt too much. Everything to do with Itachi… and even Sasuke, always made him dizzy and unable to think. These two brothers were going to be the death of him.

He laughed. Laughed at the fact that, even though he was flooded with emotions every minute he was with Itachi, his life was pretty good. Really, the only person missing was Sasuke, but they were working on that. Bastard just needed a good punch to the head and a kick between the balls… and probably some stern talking to from Itachi. Sasuke was high maintenance that way. But the point was that they were working on it. Things weren't completely hopeless, and for that he could be happy.

Shaking his head, Naruto quickly got into the shower and proceeded to clean himself up. He scrubbed at the dirt that gathered on his body from the sealing, and then scrubbed away all his thoughts. There's been a lot more thinking done lately then he'd like for there to be. Things were simpler when he was just a kid and wanted nothing more than to learn new jutsu and kick ass. Train all day long, get stronger. That was the goal. Once the goal was done, get working towards the dream.

Well his goal was done.

And his dream… his dream was in the wrinkled hands of old people who thought he was too young for the job.

But no matter. Naruto wasn't giving up. Itachi had faith in him. In Itachi's mind Naruto was already Hokage; stronger and wiser, a hero. No way could Naruto give up and not live up to that.

X

After Naruto finished showering, they spent about two hours just lazing around the house. More accurately, Naruto divided his time fairly between raiding Itachi's by-now-half-depleted kitchen, and talking and playing with the man himself. When it was talking time, Naruto talked and Itachi either listened… or stared at the tips of his fingers, wriggling them every now and then as if he saw something disgusting attached to them. Those times were bitter reminders that Itachi was not yet complete. When it was playing time, Naruto battled his most inner desire to go over to Itachi and wrap his arms around him, and bury his face into long soft hair and hide from the world. Physically, during playing time, Naruto laid on his back with his eyes closed and hummed tunes under his breath. During playing time, Itachi traced cracks on the wall, on the ceiling… the floor. There were never enough cracks. He'd always find more, start trailing them with his eyes, and lose himself. So many cracks… and he silently traced them all…

And when he came back, he was furious.

"I don't understand why you're so angry with yourself," Naruto said. "It's not like you can help it. Nobody can help it."

"Nobody's had to deal with a problem like this," Itachi answered back swiftly, coldly.

"Yeah, whatever. What I'm trying to say is that it'll get better. Kurama's working on it."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Well it should. Old fox sticks by his word." Naruto then went back to humming his tune, once it became obvious that Itachi no longer wished to talk.

Then… after fifteen long minutes… "What did you think I was counting?"

"Huh?"

"Before. What did you think I was counting with the broken glass?"

"Oh," Naruto frowned slightly. He sat up and scratched his head. "Umm, I don't think you want to know, but it's a fairly obvious guess."

"Bodies," Itachi said quietly, his eyes helplessly trailing down to his fingertips. For a second Naruto thought that it looked like he was counting again, but then he shied away from that thought. Itachi couldn't be counting. What could he count that would take him days?

"Yeah," Naruto answered back reluctantly. "Why did you bring this up? I thought you didn't want me to worry."

"I didn't, but I want you to now."

"What?" Naruto asked eagerly, his eyes widening, brightening at the short sentence. His heart pounded away in his chest. "What?" He asked again.

"What… what?"

"What did you say?"

"… I don't understand."

It was a similar sensation as that time he fell off of one of Sai's drawing birds. Fell right out of the sky and free fell for a long time. That was what he was feeling now, but with less excitement and more disappointment.

He shuffled closer to the older man, and slowly brought his hand up and gripped Itachi's chin. He gently pulled it up, pulling the man's gaze away from his own fingers, wanting to see his eyes, ducking his own head down to make the process go faster. When their eyes met, Naruto knew that Itachi hadn't realized a word that's left his own mouth. There was a vacancy there that only happened when his mental barriers were crumbling –or being tampered with, in this case now with Kurama in there. He sat there, gripping Itachi's handsome but delicate chin, and tried very hard not to let the bitter disappointment kill him.

After all, this wasn't the first time their conversation had gone vague halfway through.

The blond sighed softly, and offered Itachi a slightly forced smile. "I thought you didn't want me to worry," he repeated. Then he waited for the words to sink in. The reward in return eased his heart a little. Recognition came back in to Itachi's two wide orbs.

"I didn't, but you would have brought this subject up sooner or later, again. I had you worried the moment you saw me counting."

"Right. So, what was it? B-bodies?"

"… I don't remember."

Naruto physically deflated. "Seriously? Are we doing this again?"

"I don't remember." Itachi fixed him with an impaling stare. "I never got past four before my counting shifted to something else."

"You lost me…"

Itachi did a slow blink, where he closed his eyes for a long breath, before opening them again. For Naruto, this was Itachi's version of an eye-roll. "I forget what I'm counting, before I get up to four." Then he waited for Naruto.

"But you… you were counting for ages!"

"I know. That's why I'm telling you now. Perhaps it is a bigger problem than I first thought. I recount over and over again." And the thing that made Naruto uncomfortable was that, Itachi sounded so lost, all quiet and timid, but his face gave away nothing except that he was bored. How could he look so miserably bored when he was suffering like that?

And what could Naruto do but gulp helplessly?

"Kurama is fixing that," he said. "He's old and really smart. He'll know what to do. Everything will get better." And he reached out and touched Itachi's elbow. He stared intently into the older man's eyes, conveying with all his might that Itachi really will get better. Naruto didn't keep him alive just so he could suffer all these problems. "Believe in me, Itachi." That was all he needed.

Itachi searched his eyes, and Naruto let him. It was unbearably intense. Naruto's breathing was laboured, and the hand that was touching Itachi's skin felt hot and tingly. The very tips of his fingers were aware of every inch of skin contact. There was tightness in his stomach that made him uncomfortable in all the right ways, a feeling that he was becoming very used to, all because his clone had experienced it every day when it was still out.

Itachi released a stuttered breath that Naruto only heard because they were sitting so close, they were sharing breathing space. He should move back, get some space in between them, but Itachi wasn't doing it. He wasn't showing any sign that it was bothering him, so why should he? Sitting this close, Naruto didn't know where to look. Itachi's face was so very close that Naruto had no choice but to look at some part of him. His eyes, no, they were looking at him, Naruto couldn't yet meet those eyes. His nose then… no, that was just awkward. His… His lips then? His eyebrows? Everything about him was so elegant, like one of Sai's drawings. Not a dot or a hair out of place. It was distracting, how perfect Itachi was… which was ridiculous because Naruto knew nobody was perfect… but, Itachi had to be the closest to perfection.

He was staring at Itachi's lips, Naruto realised. He also knew he was cross-eyed because of it too.

They were going to kiss… he hoped they were going to kiss… no! He didn't hope! That was the clone's territory. Naruto wasn't in love with Itachi. Naruto hadn't spent that much time with him; only the clone did. And so… not him. Naruto'll sort it all out soon… he'll…

He'll sort it out.

X

As it turned out, they didn't kiss.

They'd been very close, breathing the same air, lips a hair's width away. But Naruto had still been confused, and Itachi had seen it clearly. Itachi had seen it, and he'd backed off.

He left Naruto aching for him even more, because who else in the whole entire world could read Naruto like an open book like that? Who else was so mixed up in him that Naruto couldn't think one thought without associating things with Itachi?

Which was kinda bad. Naruto was trying not to think about Itachi unless it was strictly business. He figured that if he kept his feelings and thoughts in a straight line, the clone's feelings would sort themselves out. Disappear, or bury themselves so deep in his mind that it'd be another forty years before he could remember he ever had less than pure thoughts about the older Uchiha.

The point was that they didn't kiss. They left it hanging and silently declared to never speak of it again. Let the only reminders be the sensation of sharing breaths and the smell of their shampoo –which happened to be the same.

They'd lazed around some more, with Naruto taking an actual nap this time around, while Itachi did whatever he did when he was too unstable to sleep –Naruto suspected he cleaned the house. The place was always spotless even when it was filthy on the outside.

Then, in the afternoon, Kenji came over and dragged Naruto off to see his brand new baby.

Naruto in turn dragged Itachi along, only because he thought he saw a flash of alarm in the other man's eyes, as if without Naruto he would be lost. It was possible it could have just been the light, but Naruto didn't care. He had only three days, one and a half at that point, and he was going to spend as much time with Itachi as possible.

It turned out to be a good idea too, because the baby calmed Itachi in a way that only babies could. There was no outward sign that made it obvious that the baby eased Itachi's pain, the one that had been clogging his head since he was twelve. But that's what the baby –Reina- did, waving her about tiny little fists even as her eyes remained closed, asleep. Inara offered Reina for Naruto to hold, but Naruto awkwardly laughed as he politely declined. In all of his years, he'd never held a baby in his arms. He didn't really want to change that at that moment. Reina was such a tiny, delicate little thing, and Naruto knew he wasn't the most graceful guy around. Should he hold the baby and drop it, he knew he'd be scarred for life. And so, he opted to just coo at Reina.

Itachi stayed by Naruto's side the whole time, gentle eyes trained on baby Reina, but hands never going anywhere near her. Naruto suspected a lot of things when it came to Itachi and how he interacted with the rest of the world. Too many things, truth be told, but none of that mattered because Itachi was quite insane. Strangely enough Naruto saw it clearer at that moment than he ever did. When Itachi counted broken pieces of glass, and when he wiggled his fingers as if starving leeches were attached to them… and even when he laid down on his futon and said he was watching the clouds on the ceiling, Naruto always indistinctly acknowledged that Itachi was mad. He did it half-heartedly. 'Oh, nice weather we're having today. What did you have for lunch? Itachi's a little bit crazy, but I'm working on that. My room needs a good cleaning.'

But now, with Itachi staring at Reina, but not really seeing her, Naruto could see it for what it was. Insanity; the result of forcibly binding a soul into a rotting body, and then making that body brand new and whole once more. The only thing with Itachi was that he did too wonderful a job at appearing normal… most of the time. Uchihas and their stoic masks.

Kenji continued to busily divide his loving attention between his baby girl and his son –who clearly wanted his father to stop pestering him so he can focus on his book- as Naruto watched on. Itachi's gaze was fixed on Reina and Reina only, but it was clear to Naruto –who'd sort of been living with him for a year and a half- that he was seeing a variety of things. There were a few occasions that Itachi's eyes shifted a little, and Naruto was sure he saw Reina for who she was, but then the shift was gone, and Itachi was back to staring at whoever it was that had been a baby at that point in Itachi's life.

Naruto knew it was Sasuke.

Who else in this world had Itachi's complete and utter devotion? Love, loyalty, pride?

Sasuke.

It had always been Sasuke, and it would always be Sasuke.

Naruto's heart broke as much as it soared.

"Hey Naruto," Inara said, gently massaging her knees. She'd always had weak knees, according to Kenji, and the last nine months hadn't been kind to her. "When are you going to fix up your house? It's starting to fall apart you know? The other day I saw something fall. Not sure what, though, but it looked dangerous."

"Nope!" Naruto chirped. "No fixing up required. In a couple 'a days I'm coming back and Itachi's gonna leave with me."

Inara and Kenji mad surprised but happy noises, but Itachi remained silent. Obviously he was caught off guard, but Naruto wasn't sure why. He'd explained this plan to Itachi a hundred times. Itachi was going to become healthy in both mind and body, and then he was coming back to Konoha where he can live a violent-free life and together they'd bring Sasuke back. And if bringing Sasuke back home required violence, then Naruto was willing to be the one to do it. Itachi needn't lift a finger; just shoot some harsh but loving words at his baby brother.

"Really? And when were you going to tell us, Itachi?"

When Itachi spoke, it was with a tone that was still surprised, but at the same time resigned and fond. "It must have escaped my mind."

Kenji, who was used to Itachi's soft spoken ways, let him off the hook, but Inara was more perceptive. She looked back and forth between Itachi and Naruto, did some calculation in her head, and went back to kneading her knees. There were some things that were fairly obvious to her about these two. Naruto was clearly a mess; one moment staring at Itachi adoringly, then the next clenching his teeth and forcing his head to turn the other way. It didn't matter what he did really. Inara had seen it once and that had been enough. He was in love, and try to deny it as he might, there was no way of changing that. Naruto's constant attempt at denial reminded her more often than not that he was still a boy. Powerful, burdened and brave, but at things like love, just a boy.

"Naruto likes to surprise me," Itachi whispered. Judging by the lack of reactions from everyone else, Inara guessed she was the only one who heard. And by the vacant look on the breathtaking man's alluring face, Itachi might not have even realised he'd spoken at all.

"Hmm," Inara hummed.

Of the two boys, Itachi was the one who confused her the most. She called him a boy, just like Naruto, because he looked like a boy. That, she thought, probably had more to do with his vulnerability than his appearance. Itachi was vulnerable in a way that only she seemed to have picked up on. Itachi was like a new-born, if she had to put a tag on it. All brand new and confused and just… not yet quite right. She wondered if Naruto realised this; if this was the reason why he hovered, a hand always ready to brush Itachi's hair or arm. But probably not. That boy was too caught up in his battle against his emotion. It was a battle that he'd only win through death, she thought to herself, just like how she lost her battle years ago when she'd committed herself to another man, even as her very being longed for this goofy, ridiculous man named Kenji.

"We're gonna miss you, but," Kenji said. "Aren't we sweetheart?" He cooed at his daughter, and when he didn't get a response, he turned to his son. "Aren't we, Ichi?"

Ichi briefly looked up from his book, gave his father a blank stare and sent a scrunchy-nosed look his sister's way. Then he quickly gave Itachi a look that simply said 'I'm gonna miss you, but bear with me I'm trying to get my daddy's attention.' Itachi nodded.

"We'll visit once in a while, won't we Itachi?" Naruto said.

Inara smiled to herself. Give them a couple of years and she knew they'd be inseparable, bound together in all the right way by love and passion and everything that led them to this point.

Inara frowned suddenly. This point being Naruto denying his feelings for Itachi, but she swore that a few months ago he was doing anything but. Before her belly got too large and her knees became worse, she used to walk around the few neighbouring huts by herself. And almost every time she did, she always veered towards Itachi and Naruto's house. It hadn't been with intention. It was just that their house always exuded mystery, and she was a curious pregnant woman. And every time, she saw them. She watched them grow closer and closer. They kept to themselves when they first arrived, but she could tell they were almost strangers back then. Then they grew closer, feelings developed. So why was Naruto suddenly doing everything he could to deny his feelings? It was fairly obvious that he felt for Itachi.

Now, if Itachi was the one doing the denying, that would be more understandable. Of the two of them, he looked to be the type to deny things like feelings, where Naruto looked to be the type to embrace them. But… well, shinobi were strange people, and she never really liked to analyse them too much.

"We should… be getting back. Tomorrow is Naruto's last day off," Itachi said. Without waiting for any reply he got up and glided out of their house.

Kenji snickered at the retreating back and at Naruto quickly scrambling up to follow. Inara knew what was going on in her husband's mind. He probably thought they were retreating to their house to spend as much time alone as possible as young lovers, what with Naruto having to leave again tomorrow. She wished her husband was right in that way, then everybody could be happy.

X

Sleeping here, with Itachi, was quit painful. The thing was, Naruto wasn't allowed to masturbate… and he really, really wanted to. Needed to. It wasn't that he wasn't allowed to, really… his conscience just wouldn't let him do it. They were sleeping in the same room, less than two metres apart. It didn't help that Naruto knew Itachi was sleeping; all soft and pliant and unaware, almost innocent. The thoughts that filtered through to Naruto's mind were anything but. He could just do it, just stick his hand down there and get off. But Itachi was right there! It wouldn't feel okay come morning.

He grunted and rolled onto his side; facing away from Itachi's still form.

And then rolled back onto his back because sleeping on his side gave him an image of what he and Itachi could be doing, seeping on their side, facing the same way. Stupid clone.

Naruto groaned and rolled onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow. He stayed that way a while, just breathing out.

He felt hopeless, defeated.

There, lying next to Itachi in their tiny hut, he doubted there was any hope of him successfully pushing the clone's feelings away. Part of him hated it, hated that he was suddenly made to love Itachi in that way. But… he didn't really want to put a stop to it. He liked that his heart did stupid little flips when he watched Itachi. Liked a lot of things that he felt when he just thought of the older man. He wanted to have these feelings behind everything he did, for the rest of his life.

"You're going to die," Itachi's voice quietly sounded next to his head. "Come up and breathe."

"Ugn!" Naruto grunted. It meant to sound like a 'no.'

Itachi shifted closer, and Naruto only knew this because every cell in his body was tuned on to Itachi, always aware, always ready to respond.

"It's that unbearable? I know there are some strong genjutsu users in Konoha that can help you."

Finally Naruto brought his head up, and gave his companion a look uncharacteristically dark, uncharacteristically sour.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that."

"Well then what would you have me do? This is partially my fault too."

"How is any of this your fault? You don't look like the type to Mangekyou Sharingan me into loving you." Whoop! There went his feelings, totally out there in the open. And it didn't shock him, just made him feel that much lighter. Very much lighter, actually. His heart was hammering away like crazy, but he was good. The elephant was out there in the room and the only thing to do was respond.

Itachi didn't answer for a very long time. He just sat there beside Naruto's head, looking longingly at the wall. Naruto almost thought he hadn't heard, but that wasn't the case. Itachi was a shinobi by nature. No matter how deep he was in his own head, he had to be aware of his surroundings. Slowly, Naruto felt his poor little heart wilt.

"Say something," he said quietly.

"I don't know what you want me to say. You… don't want these emotions, but you don't want them to go away. You're making a mess for yourself."

Naruto swung himself up into a sitting position, which brought them that much closer to each other. Once again they were sharing breathing space.

"No, about me… loving you. Say something about that. And I'll have you know that I want these feelings very much!"

Itachi directed him a dry look. "You, loving me? Not the clone?"

"Okay I get it," Naruto drawled. "It's me, I'm sure. The clone, that was me too. If I was in its position I still would have loved you. So…" He shifted even closer, excited with the possibilities, but nervous because he'd never done this before. He could be doing the wrong thing and he wouldn't know. "How do you feel? About me?"

Itachi moved forward, as if to kiss him, and Naruto wasn't expecting that. His blue eyes widened and for some stupid reason he moved back. Stupid reason that he didn't even remember! Itachi's warm breath caressed his lips, and Naruto gulped some courage back into himself and moved forward…

… but apparently the moment's gone. "I don't want you to have to keep denying your feelings, it's not good for you," Naruto ignored the irony of that statement; Itachi, giving him advice about mental health? "But I don't want you to regret this later. What do you want Naruto?"

And it's so far past talking time, Naruto thought. If they were going to talk things out, they'd never get things done. So he buried his hand in Itachi's silky-soft hair and pulled him in for a kiss. It wasn't perfect, because it was too dark and Naruto kissed Itachi's chin at first, but it was intense. It was dark and quiet, all their senses focused onto this little contact between their lips. The tip of Itachi's cool nose rubbed along his cheek, and Naruto parted his lips and brushed Itachi's with his tongue; wet and cool and asking for entrance. And they went on like that, just kissing, testing new territory and doing the tongue-dance, and sending tingling sensations down each other's mouths. It was electrifying and Naruto felt stupid for having refused his feelings this contact for so long. Stupid.

Eventually breathing became a problem and they separated with a wet, slick sound that was ridiculously loud in their quiet hut.

"You drive me crazy," Naruto said shakily. "Forget about me. Tell me what you want." He licked his lips, tasted Itachi, and moved in for another kiss. "It's all about reciprocation, I think. I know what I want; I've just been stupid about it. Question is… do you want me too? Please tell me you're not just doing this because you somehow think you owe it to me. You don't owe me anything. If we're doing this, it's gonna be because you want me as much as I want you. Please…"

"Stop talking." Itachi moved away from him, but his hand came up to rest on Naruto's whiskered cheek, so he wasn't too alarmed. "I need… air. I can't concentrate Naruto." And then the hand was gone, and so was Itachi, leaving Naruto to feel the cool air rushing in from outside.

And how was he supposed to take that? Naruto, your kiss has rendered me unable to think straight, or, you're coming on too strong, let me be?

"Don't brood Naruto, it's unbecoming of you."

"Wha… Umm, can you think now?"

A candle was lit, and Naruto saw Itachi properly for the first time since they went to bed. His hair was tangled and sticking out to one side, courtesy of yours truly, and his lips were red and swollen. Naruto had a feeling he didn't look that much different. It was a good look on Itachi, Naruto decided. If he was allowed to, he would very much like to keep Itachi's lips in that state and even bring a blush to his pale cheeks.

"Yes." Itachi glided closer to Naruto's futon.

"That was fast. You weren't even gone for half a minute." Naruto reached out and wrapped a hand gently around one slender ankle, rubbing his thumb back and forth across the delicate skin over the bones. He had no memory of ever doing this, previously, but the moment he did it, he remembered. His clone had done this before, during one afternoon when he had been laying on the grass and Itachi had come to see if he'd fallen asleep.

"Here it is Naruto. The truth." Itachi squatted down and Naruto took his hand away so it could move on to smooth out Itachi's hair. "I do love you, but there are ANBU outside."

"Holy crap!" Naruto cried. "You didn't even give me time to enjoy your heartfelt confession!"

"Naruto," Itachi warned. "Get up."

"But… this is a love confession. I think they can wait."

"They have been waiting."

The blond gasped. "You mean they were perving on us? What the hell?"

"Naruto." It almost sounded like a growl, almost.

Naruto laughed softly and touched Itachi's arm. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything. I promise." Itachi didn't look convinced, but Naruto only needed him to know. "Come on, it's about time we went home anyway." He stood up and helped Itachi up, even though the older man didn't need it. Then he leaned down and whispered into Itachi's ear. "Are you well enough?"

Itachi rigidly suppressed his trembling, though that didn't stop the brush of warmth that ran down his body. "It doesn't matter, but I think Kurama has repaired me enough."

"You needed air… before, when we were…"

"Yes. You overwhelmed me."

Naruto grinned. "You know, you're not really helping my ego. It's been growing a lot around you."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, and Naruto knew that if the man still had his Sharingan, Naruto was dead meat. "We have ANBU at our doorstep. Go take care of it."

"Yes, Mum."

Quickly Naruto leaned in and kissed Itachi on the mouth, quick but nevertheless passionate.

He could really get use to that


	3. Part 3

_He didn't plan very far into the future. Got to the part where he let Kurama fix up Itachi's crumbling mind, and he got up to the part where he took Itachi back to Konoha and they live together in the house that was under his father's name, which was located far away from the main populace enough to offer them all the privacy they would need. That was where things began to get blurry. Vaguely he knew he was going to be Hokage, but things were just too unpredictable to be sure. After all, Sasuke was still out there, planning to set fire to the whole of Konoha. Naruto was betting heavily on Itachi for that part. Just him being alive and happy should convince stubborn little brother to come home. And if not, Naruto was just going to have to break his arms and legs and drag him home like he promised he would do._

_His point was that the last two key factors of his life were not yet in his hand. Sasuke and Hokage. He didn't know which would come first. If he became Hokage first, that would make leaving to go and retrieve Sasuke that much harder. Hokages were like prisoners to their own tower. He'd be lucky if he could find his way out of the gigantic maze of paperwork there. But if he got Sasuke back before he became Hokage, well then all would be well. Except Sasuke was a piece of shit and he would never do things according to Naruto's plan._

_So, for now, he was going to nicely talk to the NABU outside his hut and then bring Itachi home and make him happy. If things finally went his way, maybe he'd even be able to carry Itachi into their new home. Maybe…_

_Probably…_

X

First one he saw was Pakkun the ninja dog. Then he saw Kakashi and kind of went ' _Oh shit_.'

The elders or Tsunade could have sent Kakashi and his tracking canines anytime, but they hadn't ever really been that desperate. They didn't like that Naruto was doing things in the dark, but they always trusted him that little bit, and so didn't send his former sensei after him.

But there he was. He was standing up straight, in front of the four other ANBU and his book was nowhere in sight. He was leading them.

And he knew who was inside the hut.

"Hi," Naruto said with a small wave. "Am I in trouble?"

"The original answer to that would have been no, but things have obviously changed in the last few minutes. Nevertheless, that's not why we came here." Kakashi dismissed Pakkun and the old dog disappeared with a small puff. "Sasuke's appeared. It's time you come home, Naruto."

Sasuke has appeared, said with a very dispassionate tone. From Kakashi, from anyone in team seven, it meant bad news. For years now they'd all held only two reactions for Sasuke's return. Jump and cry for joy or be really, really formal because Sasuke had done something too horrible for informal words.

Naruto breathed in deeply and held the breath for several long moments.

"When?" He asked his former sensei. "When did he appear?"

"This afternoon."

Naruto felt his temple twitch. "Why am I only finding this out now, Kakashi?"

One of the ANBU behind Kakashi stepped forward and sneered. "Didn't look like you'd welcome interruption." His voice was high and full of arrogance. He was new to ANBU. He didn't fully understand who Naruto was and what role he played in the grand scheme of things. Even worse, he didn't quite realise who it was that was standing behind Naruto.

"Watch your tongue," Kakashi spoke levelly. Then he turned back to Naruto. "You'll be fully briefed once we're back in Konoha. You need to come home Naruto. Sasuke isn't going to wait."

For a long moment Naruto didn't respond. He stood there, knees locked, fury building up within him for no apparent reason. Maybe he was angry that he was only finding out that Sasuke had appeared then, near midnight… or maybe he was angry that his time with Itachi might be in jeopardy. He couldn't figure it out. He was too caught up in the fact that he only had perfect peace for but a few minutes, and now it was once again at risk.

He felt Itachi move behind him, and tensed up when the ANBU in front of them crouched forward in response.

"We have to go," Itachi spoke softly. His light fingers quickly touched Naruto's hand, before moving back. "Naruto, we have to go."

"Yeah," he agreed softly. "I guess we do. Kakashi-sensei, give us a few minutes and we'll pack."

"Sure, and I'm not your sensei anymore, Naruto."

Naruto didn't reply. He just bit his bottom lip and took Itachi's wrist and pulled him back inside. Then he silently moved to pack what little belonging they had into sealing scrolls. Itachi stood a little away, watching him. They were silent. Naruto knew they weren't really, truly in trouble, but he also felt that any word spoken from this point onwards could be held against them. Kakashi wouldn't use anything to get them in trouble, but the ANBU weren't like him. They were bound by the utmost of rules and obligations. As soon as they were in Konoha, the Hokage and the elders would surely know of Itachi's presence, and maybe even their relationship. And Sasuke has made himself known once more. Kakashi didn't give off any hint that this was good news, so that meant that the first move had been made. Sasuke had done something against Konoha.

The thought of the Uchiha had him quickly sealing away their belongings, and turning around to pull Itachi into the circle of his arms. Immediately Itachi wrapped his arms around Naruto's back, offering silent comfort and faith. He buried his face into Itachi's hair; momentarily thinking he could be safe from the world. He tightened is hold and breathed in the scent of Itachi. Naruto didn't understand why he was so anxious. Before, he wanted to hurry up and heal Itachi so they could go to Konoha together, but now he didn't want to leave their half crumbled house. Maybe it was the circumstances of their leaving that irked him. He wanted to leave for Konoha on his own terms, with only Itachi for a travelling companion. And they would spend hours travelling alone, heading for their new home. But that wasn't possible any longer. Not with Sasuke having done whatever it was that he's done.

He felt Itachi's hand on the base of his neck, cool and gentle and comforting. The effect was immediate. All worrying thoughts were dispelled from his mind until he was sure that Itachi was the only one he needed to think about. Itachi and his hand. A smile broke free on Naruto's whiskered face, and he brushed Itachi's hair back to reveal his pale, creamy neck. The heavy anxiety slowly lifted from his chest and Naruto took a plunge… placed his lips upon the smooth skin exposed to him.

Lightly he sucked on the area. It was a kiss so light that Itachi might not even feel it, though that was doubtful. Itachi's breath hitched and Naruto delighted in that he felt the older man's whole body shiver. Who knew this Uchiha was so responsive?

Itachi moved back from him with a small sigh.

"Yeah, I know. We gotta go." Naruto tried to ignore the disappointment that flowed into him.

Itachi nodded, then he placed a hand over Naruto's wildly beating heart. "Any other time and I wouldn't have stopped you."

And then he was out the front door, his strides long and elegant as if he wasn't about to walk into a group of ANBU; leaving Naruto to carry the scrolls that contained their belongings like a pack mule. Typical that was…

X

The travel back took a lot longer than Naruto liked. Two days. Two days because the ANBU couldn't keep up. Frustration grated on Naruto's every nerve, which made him a very unpleasant travelling companion. He growled under his breath, snapped at the slowest moving ANBU and unconsciously gave off chakra flares. Four hours into their travel and everyone was on their toes, wary of this blond man who was becoming less man and more animal.

Kakashi understood Naruto's feelings, but he also wanted his young companion to stop and think. He desperately wanted to say to Naruto ' _Forget about Sasuke for a minute and think about your situation! You have the Uchiha Itachi with you, alive, and you're not yet Hokage. You're as close to being a criminal as you're ever going to be. Think!_ ' But of course he couldn't say any of that. He was the leader of this ANBU team, sure, but they also knew to be aware of him. He was a double edged sword; friend of Naruto but a loyal, strong team leader.

They left Naruto and Itachi's cabin in the middle of the night, travelled until the sun came up and took a break at noon. At that point Naruto was past the point of eating. While everyone sat and ate and drank, he was standing up, facing in the direction that he knew Konoha to be. He never took his eyes off of the direction, as if staring could get him that much closer to the village and let him see what damage Sasuke had done.

That left Kakashi to silently watch Itachi.

And watch he did.

He sat between the ex-criminal and his ANBU and Naruto, just in case Itachi decided to re-enact the massacre in which he was so famous for. He didn't know what to think. Clearly he remembered Naruto telling him about what Madara had told him, all those years ago just before the war. But that was different than hearing it from Itachi himself. On one hand he could be guilty for the massacre all on his own, or he could be guilty because Konoha had had a moment of cowardice. He just didn't know what to make of this situation, not yet. For now, he'd just follow orders and bring Naruto back home.

If Itachi was aware of Kakashi's lengthy observation, he didn't show it. His dark eyes were trained straight forward, but occasionally Kakashi caught him looking at Naruto with a tiny furrow between his brows. It looked like he was worried, but the thought of that made him shudder in all the wrong ways, remembering the things he heard when they were outside Itachi and Naruto's little hut and the state that Itachi had been in when he appeared; flushed, confused, heated. The things that made his skin crawl and made him think ' _Naruto, what have you gotten yourself in to? This is over the line_.'

Silently, the silver-haired man watched. Naruto glanced back at Itachi, his eyes pained. Then he abandoned his post and silently sat down next to the Uchiha. It was easy to see what their relationship was, just one glance. They sat huddled close and Naruto leaned into Itachi's space, a move not unlike a dog leaning in to sniff your hand. And Itachi didn't even notice.

A big part of Kakashi cringed away from that reality. Itachi was dead. Even if he somehow came back healthy and radiant and alive, he had once been dead, and this new relationship shouldn't exist. It was wrong and disgusting and bordering lines that it shouldn't be bordering. But… Naruto was happy. Naruto was so happy he was glowing like the damn sun and wearing a look more goofy than usual on his face. Even at a time like this, when he was worried about the youngest Uchiha, he still radiated happiness.

An even bigger part of Kakashi sagged in relief. His Naruto had finally found someone. If the way Itachi looked at Naruto from under his lashes was any indication… yeah, Naruto has found someone.

And, what did death really matter in the ninja world anyway? You die once and that's really only the beginning. He himself had been there.

Kakashi released a quiet sigh through his mask and packed up his belongings. It was time to be on the move again.

X

The entire farming area, located on the outermost ring of Konoha, was in flames. Two and a half days since Sasuke had launched the attack, and the flames were still going. Some flames were red, some orange, others black. The smoke cloud that covered the area was even bigger than the fire, forcing citizens to evacuate inwards, towards the centre of the village. There was no panic among them just yet. Naruto suspected that this was because they hadn't realised yet who it was that attacked them.

When they arrived at the massive gates of Konoha, the ANBU and Kakashi arranged themselves around Naruto and Itachi. It wasn't aggressive, but it was clear that the two sort-of-captives weren't allowed to move any further into the village. Itachi didn't look surprise. It made sense that he was expecting this sort of turn of event. He was, officially, still a criminal. Naruto's heart turned heavy and he quietly moved so that Itachi was behind him. He stood between his ex-sensei and his love, because of the four people that came for the, Kakashi was without a doubt the biggest threat.

"What happened to Sasuke?" He asked Kakashi.

"We couldn't catch him."

Itachi's lips quivered, the only reaction to the mentioning of his brother.

Naruto grunted, not surprised at all.

"He's thought things through," Kakashi continued. "Limiting our food supply like that. We'll be depending heavily on trades from outside the village, and it's most likely that he'll try to put a wedge between that."

The ANBU, the one who had sneered at Naruto back at the hut, spoke. "What can he do? He's just one man."

Naruto almost felt insulted on Sasuke's behalf. Instead, he silently twined his fingers around Itachi's; a movement that went unnoticed because their linked hands were between Naruto's back and Itachi's front.

Itachi's hood was up, easily covering his beautiful face. At this point Naruto couldn't predict what was going to happen, but it was better if people didn't see Itachi just yet.

"Kakashi, tell me, please. Should I be getting ready to fight, to run? I'm not… Nothing is going to happen to him."

"Relax, Naruto. You're in trouble alright, about him, but there's no need to fight or run."

The four ANBU around them stood up, backs straight, before falling down to one knee with one arm crossed over their chests.

Unconsciously Naruto's hand tightened around Itachi's.

Tsunade appeared from the haze caused by the heat of Sasuke's flames. Her face was drawn and her skin unusually pale. In her arms she carried the white robe of the Hokage. The hat sat on top of the robe. The two elders trailed behind her, their eyes squinting so hard they almost looked asleep. They were both carrying a scroll. Behind the three were all the clan heads. Kiba's mum, the original Ino-Shika-Chou trio, Hinata's dad, Shino's dad. Naruto half-heartedly thought that he should be up there, representing his family, and Itachi should also be up there.

And, way behind all the most powerful people, a short, stubby man hurried to keep up with their pace. In his arms he carried the long tri-stand that held an ancient looking [camera](http://www.surfcanyon.com/search?f=slc&q=camera&p=wtigck) on it.

Naruto didn't have a very good feeling about that. That camera didn't always make him look good.

Homura, the elder, was the first one to approach him. His usually neat appearance was haggard looking, and Naruto sensed that his chakra reserve was far too low for him to be standing. But nevertheless he stood, and he said to Naruto, holding up a waiting hand, "Your hand, please."

For a second he couldn't move. Was Homura going to cut off his hand for being involved with an Uchiha? But… Itachi's face was still under his hood, not really visible…. But, oh crap. These people were strong enough to recognise the Uchiha Itachi's chakra signature!

Silently, with a hand that was far steadier that what he felt inside, he reached forward.

"Not this one. The other."

No one was saying anything.

Everyone's face, every single one of them, was blank. Every. Single. Person.

He felt Itachi's skinny hand slip from his and his heart broke a little. Still, he reached forward.

Quick as lightning, Homura pricked all five of the fingers of his right hand and slammed them onto the scroll that he had been holding. Then he retreated back to stand beside Koharu. Naruto was so dazed and confused he didn't even notice the pain.

The old lady Koharu came next, opening up the scroll a tiny bit and telling him, "Sign this in blood."

".. No?" Naruto tried weakly.

Koharu stared at him through her squinting eyes and Naruto immediately regretted ever opening his mouth.

"Sign it, Naruto," Itachi spoke. He's been so quiet that Naruto jumped when he heard him speak. Koharu's sharp eyes locked on Itachi's cloaked form and Naruto almost jumped out of skin with how much he wanted to wrap Itachi in his arms. That old lady was scary.

"I'll sign, I'll sign!" He quipped. Biting on his thumb, which had already healed up, he signed on the scroll.

Then she moved back and all the clan heads move to stand in an arc circle around him and Itachi. This was it, he thought. He was going to prison and they wouldn't even get to hear his explanation.

The old lady Tsunade moved forward. Her long hair swayed and Naruto thought he saw some of the tips singed.

Naruto looked into her amber eyes, begging her. Begging her for an answer because he didn't know what was going on. He couldn't protect Itachi if he didn't know what was going on.

Tsunade threw her arms out and wrapped the clean, white robe around his broad shoulders. The hat landed on his head. A big flash went off, and the short man with the camera clapped. He was the only one.

Tsunade's hand landed softly on his cheek and she whispered to him, "Welcome back, Hokage-sama."

Naruto was not ashamed to say that he blacked out for a few seconds.

"What?"

"Oh come on now, you've fought long and hard for this. Don't act surprise now!" He was still gaping, the weight of the magnificent robe making his knees buckle. "Listen Naruto," Tsunade said sternly. "I didn't make this decision alone. We all did. There wasn't even another candidate mentioned. And this is your fight."

One thing was clear, when they stopped Sasuke; it would be up to Naruto what Sasuke's fate was.

Naruto studied Tsunade's tired face. She was keeping her eyes strictly on Naruto and not on the figure behind him.

There was a storm raging in Naruto, but beneath that storm of overwhelming confusion, he was surprisingly calm.

The robe on his shoulders felt right, like it belonged, and the hat was a stable weight on his head. He was Hokage. He was the Seventh Hokage, just like his father had been the Fourth. And, if he could get Sasuke to stay still, he could stop his friend from being executed. And he could live in his father and mother's house where there was plenty of privacy. And he could protect Itachi.

Unsteadily he reached back for Itachi's hand, which found his halfway.

"There won't be a formal ceremony for you until all threat to the village is secured," Hyuuga Hiashi said to Naruto, his eyes quickly glancing down onto their linked hands. Of everybody there, he was definitely someone who knew that he was holding Uchiha Itachi's hand. "Your last mission as a jounin is this. Bring Uchiha Sasuke to us, and the Hokage shall decide his fate."

Well, wasn't this a lucky day for Sasuke. He got to attack Konoha, and now, with his best friend being the new Hokage, he might even get away with it!

But in all seriousness, he won't go unpunished. He would need to serve time, and his mental state would need to be evaluated. His chakra reserve sealed off so he was back to gennin level, that was, if Naruto could get to him.

"As for your companion," Shikamaru's dad said lazily. "We'll deal with that issue after this one. Is this alright?"

Nodding, Naruto tightened his hand around Itachi. Goodness, but he could not wait to get home. He thought this moment when his dream came through would be more epic, but he's been doing a lot of Tsunade's duties for years now. Now, more than anything, Naruto wanted Itachi faraway from people who still thought he was guilty for murdering the Uchihas. He wanted Itachi within the safe walls of his house.

X

There were seven ANBU in total around his house. They were giving them privacy by not actually looking in, but they were out there, keeping total and utter tabs on Itachi's chakra signature, moving to be around whatever part of the house Itachi moved to. Naruto could easily order them away, but he knew that he had to let the Konoha Council do this. They had to see how much he loved Itachi, had to see that he wasn't a threat… much.

And so he let the ANBU be. He thought everything would be okay. The problem was that Sasuke launched another attack that very same night, Itachi's first night back, and everything was chaotic. Sasuke wasn't working alone like that new ANBU had said. In fact, in two years, he'd gathered a large force and they were attacking Konoha from the sky, using machines that he'd never seen before. In two years, his state had worsened, weighed down by the death of his beloved brother. Quick evacuations were occurring and Naruto had been summoned.

"Come with me," Naruto said to Itachi. "We'll get Sasuke back together."

But Itachi had only stared at him, a little lost and a little unhinged.

"You've brought me back to life, fixing my head. I don't know if there is anything you can't do. You can do this, can't you Naruto? You can bring Sasuke back."

"Hell yeah!" He moved in close to his best friend's brother and placed a kiss on his perfect cheek. "Actually, there are a lot of things that I wanna do, that I haven't ever done before. But to do those things I need you and a village that isn't under attack." He moved in so that Itachi could feel the line of his body at his side. "Come with me."

Itachi saw no point in denying him that.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Anubis' Daughter (over in FF.net) in the event ItaNaru Swap 2012! Also beta-read by the wonderful Healiel (also over in FF.net), who was my first ever beta-reader. I have no regret working with her.


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